#maybe when I get my new pc (hopefully soon) i can start again

[slumbear]

Tbh I really wanna get back into streaming art, the only issue is (besides my shit laptop and godawful internet) Im so outside of Normal people hours.

Im usually in a drawing mood when a Lot of people are in bed. Like Yeah I could get up earlier or stay up later but Man I got hot girl shit to do

[milascenta]

26th February 18:17

I'm sorry for not posting in a while. I've not been doing very much, just still recovering. Its been pretty annoying to be honest but its starting to get better. I thought it would be a lot faster, my doctor said only a couple months at most but its been way longer. I haven't been in as much pain recently though which is good, I no longer take pain killers all the time, its maybe once or twice a day if I feel it, some days feel better than others. I still feel the stitches which I was told would absorb after a couple months too so thats annoying lol, its making this small region across my chest really tight, like to the right of my neck along my collar bone, as thats where the muscle was cut through and reattached and all that. I'm able to workout a lil more though which is good, I haven't been able to move much for so long so its good to move more and get some muscle back. Not doing anything too intense as I don't want to risk tearing or anything. But the tightness is slowly going. Stretching is becoming easier too. I need to start walking more haha, I feel more lungs need more of a workout lately, which sounds weird but as they did stuff to my lung I need to get it back up to snuff lol. Been dealing with more pc issues can you believe it?! haha, its now just like turning off my displays and my IO becomes unresponsive but the computer is still on? Like all the lights and fans and everything, so I have to turn off the power supply and turn it back on again. So random too, just watching youtube or playing games does it, so its hard to reproduce. I've looked it up and it could be 2 things, either the motherboard is starting to die or something is shorting it out or the power supply is acting weird. So I ordered a new motherboard and if it continues then it must be the power supply. That means I should start streaming again soon, I've really been wanting to get back into it as its just something I see myself doing and I want to start doing things again, creative things and fun things moving things and all that.

I hope you've been doing ok and I hope your grandmother is doing ok too, N. I know you say you want 35+ days sometimes but please please I beg you, you do not hahaha I would kill to be able to wear clothes again and not sweat through anything I put in contact with my skin haha. Its been cooler down a lil recently but we still get a 35+ day every week or so. 38 on the 29th last day of summer is going out with a bang. Hopefully winter is cooler.

Its so good to hear you getting a promotion you really deserve so I hope you feel proud cause I do. Omg dealing with less customers sounds amazing too, they're the worst hahaha. I hope its been good and you've been able to acclimate to it well. I really understand when you say you feel Stuck, though I think you are being a bit harsh on yourself, I've to realise more and more as I age that time is kinda more and more irrelevant, what's more important is that we get there, we get to do the things we want and move towards our goals we set for ourselves, I really believe you will achieve them. Though I completely understand you. I hate that I'm still aging I feel like I haven't achieved anything, I keep thinking I wish I could go back to a teenager and start again, but who knows. I think getting out of your town is a good goal to have, I don't think you want to be there forever, I'm sure where you'd go but I think you'll try out a few places before settling properly, somewhere that is in more align with your values and offers you more opportunities. I really liked living closer to the city, I love further out but idk there's just something about walking around people and down alleys and finding random things, and also I things being close. Jeeez I miss just being able to walk to something, I have to train or bus to something I want to go to its so annoying hahaha. I really get you on the friends thing too, a lot of the people I grew up with are married and either have children or are in positions to now, its so surreal to see. I feel a roadblock as well. But idk I always feel like it will work out in the end, I just always have that tiny bit of hope that like nags me in the back of my mind like the adoring fan from Oblivion hahah. Always there to challenge my distorted thinking. Which is good I think. I think we always do things in the end, we never stagnate if that makes sense. But i feel like I'm rambling a bit, i just understand what you might be thinking right now as I feel similar. In my situation I get so much outside pressure from my family to do so much, even though I'm still recovering from a pretty major surgery, it kinda makes me feel like what I want to do isn't important and that I have to listen to them even though they don't seem to understand it. I feel like my best friend understands me the most right now and you of course. Both of which I'm grateful.

Chonky's been good she had her adoption day on the 12th of January, for which I give her some raw meat in the shape of a heart, I also do the same for Valentine's day.

Also Catfish and the Bottlemen are coming back and I'm so excited for the new album, its just Benji and Van at the moment but I have my hopes for the new stuff haha.

"I think you're crazy, baby

I will see you in the next life

I think you're crazy, baby"

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 5

July 2023

Here we go again! I did NOT expect to play so much this month but I... yknow... kinda... got back into gaming in a special little way. I gave it up for a bit cause I was using a hand me down laptop that couldn't run games well, and I was having some phobias about data loss. Then I got a new laptop and while I did do a little bit, I mostly starting focusing on finally playing actual PC games and more indie games that were always out of my grasp as a dedicated console gamer.

Anyway I played a SHIT TON of games and hopefully I'll be able to play more and more. I have a gaming laptop, I have a big ass hard drive, and I have NO MONEY! SO LET'S PARTY!!!

Pikmin (October 26, 2001) - Gamecube

Ah, Pikmin. I've actually had a huge soft spot for this series for a long time. I always loved the world and characters. I remember writing an essay on Pikmin 2 in elementary school, and my mom convinced me to start journaling by telling me Olimar kept a journal lol. But you'll probably be shocked to learn that I NEVER beat this game! I've always been really bad at it and would get sad when my Pikmin died so I gave up on it. But with the power of save scumming, I was able to get the confidence needed to clear through it.

For positives this game is GORGEOUS. Even for gamecube trying to look hyper realistic (in the environments at least lol) I'm actually blown away by how good it looks! Playing on Dolphin may have helped but damn this game's graphics have ages AMAZINGLY. The whole game is also just so charming. Everyone's designs are really cute and delightful. From the Grubdogs to the SS Dolphin itself, their designs are lovely and everything is filled with such personality and charm. I love how goofy and squash-and-stretchy the Pikmin are. It's all so adorable even when facing themes on the cruelty of nature lol. Music is also FANTASTIC, gameplay is fun, I love the story and ending (the part with all the onions was SO cute.) I loved figuring out ways to get parts quicker and trickier, like one part is being guarded by 3 Burrowing Snagrets but you only need to kill the farthest to get it. So I had a bunch of Pikmin grab it and carry it out of the arena while I distracted the other two with a smaller army. It was very neat.

But I will say for all that praise this game is fucking ANNOYING! The Pikmin are so determined to die! I'll be doing everything in my power to keep them safe and they just gloriously run into any body of water or explosion they can. It's so frustrating and is a big reason I decided to emulate it despite owning the game physically. This could get especially frustrating when trying to precise things to get certain ship parts and having to deal with Pikmin stupidity combined with annoying hyper aggressive enemies. But despite that, every day since beating it all I can think is "damn I wish I was still playing Pikmin." So you can expect me to try Pikmin 2 very soon!

Sonic the Fighters (June 1996) - Gamecube

Sonic the Hedgehog? Check. Fighting Game? Double Check. Somehow I've gone my whole life and NEVER played this game!! I've had friends talk about how good it was for ages and it's literally two of my favorite things combined. So I'm very happy that I finally gave it a whirl. I played through Arcade on the easiest difficulty as Sonic!

And may I just say, I only played a little bit. So maybe I didn't get the full experience, but the gameplay in this SUCKS. In general I'm not a huge fan of 3D fighting games over 2D ones. But the enemies are so ruthlessly brutal for NO reason and it genuinely made some fights IMPOSSIBLE to get past. Particularly Tails and Metal Sonic. I am not proud of the swears I shouted at this game just trying my hardest to clear the Arcade mode. And it's endlessly frustrating to me that this game seems to get so much more love and be more popular than Sonic Battle which is LEAGUES better! WHY ARE SO MANY OF SONIC'S SMASH BROS. MOVES FROM THIS AND NOT BATTLE!?

But, I will say. I totally get why people like it. Pretty much everything outside of the combat totally fucking rules. The character models are cute, charming, and full of personality. The menus are nice, the music is GREAT. The plot is cute and works. The level backgrounds are AMAZING, seriously they look WONDERFUL! And I particularly really loved the final boss. Where the Death Egg is exploding and Eggman comes out with a self destruct timer, and then that timer turns into the match timer. SUPER cool touch. This game is really cool in spite of being kinda annoying to play.

Anyway, new Sonic 2D Fighter made by Arc System Works next please!!

Soul Calibur 2 (July 5th, 2002) - Gamecube

Oh boy, another 3D Fighting Game. Here we go. Soul Calibur is a series I've only played once before with SC6. And while the whole aesthetic and concept of this series absolutely RULES, it just doesn't really click with me. I love the weapons, Nightmare is SUCH a bad ass and so is the Soul Edge, I love the over the top narrator who says so much, the edgy fantasy aesthetic rules, and I love the weird guest characters. But it just never fully clicked sadly. BUT, I've heard LOTS of people say it's one of the best fighting games ever so I figured I'm overdue to check it out.

Just like SC6, this game looks great and has great character designs. I'm particularly a big sucker for these gorgeous Gamecube graphics. Lizardman was my main even though I played the arcade as Nightmare (since you can't do arcade as Lizardman which fucking blows.) But yeah I'm just not super into the gameplay. Neat game though. This and Tekken are both neat games I may sit down and try to play all of some day.

Super Monkey Ball (June 23, 2001) - Gamecube

You may be shocked to learn that I've barely touched this series in the past. I've played a Monkey Ball Arcade Machine at a Chuck E. Cheese once... I played the phone version one time... And that's about it! I know it's a really loved series but for whatever reason it just never came into my life before. But I've had a friend tell me I should play it for a while now so I decided, what the heck? Since I'm here I might as well give it a shot.

And yeah it's neat! I totally get why people like it! It's tricky, but honestly a ton of fun. Love the graphics and level aesthetics. Music is nice (I LOVED the final area's music with the rock soundtrack in that edgy colosseum). The characters are all super cute (my favorite Monkey Ball character is that one with pigtails and a raccoon tail but she wasn't in this one sadly.) I love the random Dole cross promotion stuff that was genuinely funny. And I like that you actually control the stage that was neat. My only major issues aside from it being, generally frustrating is that the camera can actually REALLY fuck you over, it tries to kinda hang towards your back. But this can really influence your delicate control over the stage. I had some levels where the camera swinging it around genuinely made it impossible to get over some hills.

Frustrating as it was, I actually remembered that my sister bought a Monkey Ball game on Switch recently, so I can absolutely see myself playing more of this series later.

Guilty Gear X (July 13, 2000) - Playstation 2

Ah, one of the last few Guilty Gear games I haven't played. I'm not sure why, but this one just never seems to get ported anywhere. If I had to guess it's cause it's very similar to XX, but it does have a very unique look to the menus, exclusive stages, and it's own story. So I really think they're overdue to put it on Steam. But oh well, that didn't stop me, I finally sat down and gave it a shot! I of course played through the Arcade as Sol and had a pretty good time with it!

It's GG so of course you already know the music and graphics are AMAZING, it feels great to play and is overall a fantastic package. I actually thought the menu aesthetics this time around were CRAZY good. Everything looks really cool and good and I know the character select is a bit notorious for being kinda difficult to see everything. And yeah that's true but I thought it looked awesome! Overall this game rules and I think it's worth checking out even with XX being a thing. It's interesting to see just how far the quality in sprites and backgrounds improved from Missing Link to X in not even that long of a time (though ML will still be one of my all time favs aha)

My only major complaint is that I thought the Arcade Mode was relentlessly brutal this time around. Once I reached the second half I was massively struggling to get through and I could not beat Dizzy to save my life, it was nuts. I never had this trouble with Missing Link or XX! Maybe it was just the version I was playing or my controller. But this game seriously whipped my ass. Oh well. Still cool.

User Unknwn (July 17, 2023) - PC

It's okay for me to write about games made by friends of mine right? That's cool? It's my tumblr I'll shout out whoever I want. A friend of mine recently released a visual novel and I think you should give it a read! User Unknwn is an interesting and in my opinion, unsettling little visual novel about a strange homebrew app for PSP that causes... Problems let's say.

It talks about dysphoria and struggling with presenting and how people treat you when you're trans. I think it's best you read it yourself to see how you interpret it, but I found it to be very relatable with how it handles these topics and also makes it very creepy and bizarre in a good way. It's got nice visuals, I liked the use of real world photos and scribbles, it's a nice combination. It's got an interesting story and it's actually got an original soundtrack! Which is very good but also cool that they made the effort to include that! Most small indie games will just forgo music altogether or use free music, I'll admit I'm guilty of most of my games being silent. But no, here you get a full soundtrack! Which is honestly awesome! My favorite might be, and I'm sorry I have to type this... "Music That Will Make You Cum Your Pants"

Seeing as how it's a visual novel there's really nothing to complain about. My only complaint is that I'm also an original trilogy Paper Mario guy and I would NOT act like gabe, I'm better than that.

Super Mario 64 Star Road (December 24, 2011) - N64 Mod

Hey! Would you believe that this is probably the first Mario Romhack I've ever beaten? I've played TONS of Mario Fangames in my time. But never any Rockhacks oddly enough. But I recently played Super Mario 64 CO-OP with some friends, and I LOVED IT. You can set it to not boot you out when getting a star, let Mario access moves added to later games, and improve his swimming which makes the game feel SO good and new. It also natively runs fullscreen and has modern controller controls, it feels SO good to play this way (and you can customize Mario's color scheme.) So I did a quick 30 star run in the base game, and wanted more. It came with Star Road so I decided to play through that, and here we are!

STAR ROAD RULES!! It's a brand new game with a fully original hub world, all new stages, 120 brand new stars. Nothing is copied from Mario 64 except for the characters and the base engine and what not, of course. It's literally a whole new experience, and I loved it! I loved the new worlds, my favorites were probably Bob-Omb Island and Fatal Flame Falls! There's tons of areas to see and I don't think I even found them all! The game also has original boss battles like a bunch of big piranha plants which was very cool to see! And I was blown away by just how big the game is. I rushed the to beat the first boss, and then was shocked to see a second hub world! Then the same thing happened and there's a third hub world! This game is crazy massive! It's also got some new enemies, some visuals and stuff from other Mario games, and it was super cute hearing different video game tracks put in the SM64 soundfont for the OST!

The game isn't perfect though. In my opinion it's too long. You need 80 stars to beat it which is already 10 more than the original. And I feel like there's less stars in each world than the original game so you REALLY have to 100% a lot of worlds in order to get everything you need. I 100% cleared almost every main level to get 80 stars which is just a bit too much. I also felt like there were too many instadeath locations. The big bully in the snow world, the piranha plant boss, ect ect. Gloomy Garden was especially guilty for having SO many places to fall off and feeling SO big while also being so empty. That was easily my least favorite stage. BUT aside from that, this was an amazing romhack! I may even come back and 100% it some day!

Pac-Man World 2 (February 24, 2002) - Gamecube

And last but not least, Pac-Man World 2! I played the first one last year I believe, so of course it's only natural we jump into the sequel this year! This one I basically knew nothing about, never watched any videos of it or nothing. I just remember seeing the cover a lot at my local video rental store... I'm not old shut up. (I miss you so much, Screenplay Video...) But I finally gave it a go and I'm glad I did! It's a neat little game!

The game looks very nice, controls nice, I thought the music was good. And I love the story honestly. Spooky is cool and the whole concept with collecting the gold fruit, while simple, is cute and works perfectly. The game also isn't too long, it's shorter than even the first one. Speaking of which, I was really shocked to see how similar it was to the first one. The Rev Roll is still there and it has a lot of the same mechanics with finding fruit and what not. Idk why I just wasn't expect it to be so similar to the first! I do think I might prefer this one though? And the final boss was cool and the first boss was FANTASTIC!!

Speaking of bosses though, this ties in perfectly with what WASN'T that good about it. Dude. The middle 3 bosses are the EXACT same bosses and this boss fight fucking SUCKS. IT'S AWFUL, so I have no idea why they recycled it 3 TIMES but the cool frog boss just got left in the dust. It's so stupid. In addition whole the game itself is short that's only the case cause there's so few levels. Which they had to do cause the levels are SO LONG!! They drag on FOREVER and especially some of the on rails ones can just go and go and go. It's not too hard so it's not that bad but it can noticeable when you're playing a single level for what feels like forever. I also felt like there were a lot of jumps that were just slightly too far to make, I kept ALWAYS grabbing the ledge and rarely landing on platforms, and if you do that on the tons of platforms that fall, it's an instadeath every time. And then the final level felt completely broken. I had no idea what was happening in that stage I would constantly make progress, and then my reward would be being sent back earlier into the level. Wormwood fucking rules though so that's okay.

Regardless! Now that that's over there's only one more game left! Pac-Man World 3! THAT'S the one I've been looking forward to! It's the only one I played as a kid, it's edgy, and Pacman PUNCHES PEOPLE! I can't wait to play it!

---

I also played 2 other games, but really didn't have much of anything to say on them. WarioWare, Inc. Mega Party Game$! which was, neat but really boring without friends. Cutscenes were particularly goofy though. And Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 which was a very cool fighting game I've heard people rave about for ages! But I only briefly played it so I'd like to learn how to play it better and give it another go later, particularly after I play more KoF. But hey, look at my funny custom Morrigan color scheme:

[terrortriplets]

Hi Doly!!!

I hope you had a lovely day today and that your week passed stress free and that you have a great weekend!!!

Stardew really should have a recap! I just started playing the last save I made and have no idea what I was doing! It’s year one and it’s winter and I’m very discombobulated!! I have the absolute worst memory. I also love customizing!!! When we reveal ourselves I should show you my house on my year six save where I’ve married Elliot.

Trinkets are my everything. Like it’s just so fun to show off all the cool little things I’ve got! You’ve gotta show me your Kirby knickknacks!!!

Oh, I’d lose my mind being in front of Louis. I’ve thought about it a lot and I think I would just cry?? He means so much to me and has done so much for me that I think I truly couldn’t even be in the same room as him I’d be shaking and just a mess. I don’t think I can do it I’d be so embarrassed.

I’m so excited for Niall’s new album, he never misses! I can’t wait and I hate that HW didn’t get to be toured it would’ve fucking rocked.

Speed round:

What’s your favorite little trinket/weird thing you have? I think mines a sad blue dog piggy bank or this new table lamp I got at an estate sale!

What’s your primary way to game? Console or PC? Mines console but hopefully PC soon!

Do you cook? I don’t really but I wanna learn and cook more I just get freaked out and don’t want to waste food cause what if it’s bad? And I don’t like being judged so I have to cook alone!

Do you have a favorite flower? I’m not sure I do now that I’m thinking about it! I’ll have to get back to you on that.

Finally, tell me a weird/interesting fact about you!!!

I hope you’re doing well and I love being your holiday pal, I hope you’re enjoying it as well!!!

-🎉❄️

Hiii, love!! Happy Friday!! Wishing you a well-rested, long and relaxing weekend!! ✨

Yes omg!! I would love to see your farm and the progress you’ve made in that save!! I’ve never seen someone have a save as long as year 6!! I’ve only ever made it as far as maybe year 3 only because I lose interest to play and then I try and go back only to forget what I was doing 🫠. Cheers to having shit memory 🥂. Other than Stardew, what other video games do you enjoy playing (if you haven’t already answered this question already lol)?

I would love to show you my collection of Kirby knickknacks lol. It very much ranges from plushies to figurines to travel hand sanitizer covers to lanyards… the list goes on!! I also enjoy collecting Funko pops, but had to lay low recently cause I don’t have the space to put them if I were to keep collecting them. Every now and again, I take one home, but it’s been a hot minute since then. Do you have a collection of anything in particular?

Louis truly does have that affect on people. I’d definitely do the same thing; probably cry before I pass out lol. I just have such a good feeling that 2023 is gonna be Niall’s year and I cannot wait what he has in store for us!!

Speed Round Answers!! Favorite Trinket? Other than like fandom memorabilia, I have a pretty decent owl figurine collection!! Owls are one of my favorite animals and so I really like collecting figurines mostly because they’re not very common and you can’t find many everywhere!! My one college roommate visited my house for the first time back in college and they said I had an “owl shrine” because of all the figurines. I haven’t added anything new to that collection since in a long time. I know it’s not one trinket, but I’d say that entire collection would have to be my favorite!! Primary Gaming setup? I’ve been playing console games up until about 2 years ago!! I created a steam account and have a couple of games there, but my laptop isn’t really the best when it comes to games, so I stick with consoles and hope that certain games get released on the switch!! I would love to have a full pc setup, but my apartment isn’t very big to be able to have a full setup that I envision myself having. Cooking? Sadly, I’m not very good at cooking very large meals. I know how to make very small things, but not like a full course meal kinda deal. I should have listened to my mom when she was explaining her recipients to me 😬. But it’s never too late to learn!! I know exactly what you mean about wanting to cook alone in fear of being judged!! I’m the same way, to an extent!! Favorite Flower? I’d say either magnolias or orchids!! But I also find cacti to be very cool so I’m adding them on too!! Weird/Interesting fact? I guess a lot of other people also do this, but I can’t sit down and have a proper meal unless I’m watching something as I do!! I’m always watching YouTube at dinner time or eating my breakfast and watching Netflix/Hulu!! I believe that is fairly common, but I think it’s kinda interesting lol.

🥺💕✨ I love being your holiday pal too, hun!! I’m really enjoying the conversations thus far!! You’re doing phenomenal, sweetie!! Until the next one!! 🎄✨

[spartanguard]

summary: Imagine Killian came over with the first curse. Imagine Belle wasn’t locked away—that she actually had been Lacey that whole time. Imagine if they met. (Imagine if they did whole lot more than that.)

A/N: It’s time for Kaitlyn’s annual self-indulgent birthday fic! It’s not CS—not remotely—but I had a desire to see Killian x Lacey, and realized that I couldn’t do it within canon. So here’s some AU that’s bound to piss people off but I enjoy it so don’t come at me. Hope some of you like it, too!

rated M | 1.3k | AO3

Ian Jones didn’t bother to lock the door of his office as he left it. If anyone really wanted to mess with the harbormaster’s files and ancient PC, they were welcome to it. Besides, this was Storybrooke; he’d be so lucky if something that exciting happened. 

(Besides—the real valuables were hidden...offshore, so to speak. His extracurricular activities were not necessarily above board but the only thing that made his mundane existence bearable. Just don’t tell the new sheriff that.)

Anyways. He left the docks, taking the familiar side streets and alleys that led to the Rabbit Hole. It was a Monday, so it’d be quiet there—well, save for the regulars, like himself. He wasn’t sure exactly when it became tradition to end a shift with a celebratory drink, and some might find flaw with the frequency in which he stopped into the watering hole, but those people thankfully kept their opinions to themselves.

No one spared a glance when he entered the dimly-lit dive, and no one ever did. He slid onto his usual stool at the bar and ordered his usual rum, then settled in for a usual night of drinking and casual, empty conversation.

(He never said his nights here were fulfilling; perhaps they were as banal as his days. But he liked it well enough to not seek out a change. He was familiar with the stir of restlessness, but it wasn’t telling him to do anything—yet.)

He glanced around the half-empty bar; billiards tables took up one side of the large space, where a couple dusty miners were making bets that everyone knew they wouldn’t honor; a couple was attempting to have a private rendezvous in one dark corner, oblivious to the fact that they were actually on full display; and a fight was about to break out at the jukebox over whether they should play Van Halen or Guns N Roses, if his hearing was right.

Actually, that caught his attention; bar fights didn’t happen often but were always entertaining. But more importantly, he’d never before seen this dark-haired lass, who was trying to take on a much-larger man. 

It wasn’t often strangers showed up in town, so anyone new was a break in the monotony. (That included the new sheriff, though he hadn’t had occasion to meet her yet...and he was rather hoping to hold off on that encounter as long as possible given his less-than-legal side hustle.)

And, though this (rather attractive) woman seemed capable of holding her own in a fight, neither party was the most sober and her foe was easily twice her size. Ian was nothing if not a gentleman (when he felt like it), and it’d be bad form to let her lose this battle, as she was sure to do—she wasn’t as steady on her stilettos as she thought she was.

He strode over as casually as he could and told the man to, “Leave the lady alone.” 

The brute was nearly bent over, trying to get into the woman’s face, but rose to his full height at Ian’s arrival. “Or what?” he sneered, then shoved Ian’s shoulder—specifically the left one, the arm of which quite obviously ended in a prosthetic hook.

Ian was well aware of his lack of appendage, and if there was one thing he hated, it was when others tried to use it against him. “Well,” he snarled, but rather than finish his sentence, swung back and clocked the man with his right fist. The asshole fell against the jukebox head-first, then slid to the floor, knocked out cold. 

The bar had gone silent at the scene, but a few moments later, the opening strains of “Runin’ With The Devil” began, and the hum of conversation resumed. One of the guy’s friends came to tend to him, but Ian had already turned around, headed back to his stool to finish his drink (and hopefully get some ice for his aching knuckles).

“Wait,” the lass said, reaching out for his forearm. “You’re just gonna walk away without letting me say thank you?”

He turned around and she was grinning up at him—a wide thing, slightly inebriated, but genuine, and he couldn’t help but return it. He even went so far as to bow slightly, replying “At your service, ma’am.”

Adorably, she snickered at him. “I don’t think anyone has ever called me ‘ma’am’ and meant it,” she joked. “It’s usually ‘miss’ or ‘hey you, stop that’.” He couldn’t exactly place her accent—Australian, maybe? There were a handful of foreign ones floating around town, his own included. But he liked it.

He also liked the way her skin-tight skirt clung to her hips, and the way her black bra was visible through the gauzy blue blouse that brought out the color of her eyes. He might have a chivalrous side, but he could just as easily be a scoundrel.

A fact she’d picked up on, if the smirk he found on her lips after his blatant perusal of her form was anything to go by. But he’d noticed her eyes heading south as well, more than once.

“So, does my handsome hero have a name?” she asked, shifting ever so slightly closer.

“Ian,” he replied; he had a feeling that last names weren’t needed for this encounter. 

“Lacey,” she said back, and offered her hand. He took hers gently and lifted it to his lips, placing a kiss on the back of it. An apt name, he thought; it matched her bra. “Can I buy you a drink?” she offered.

“If the lady insists,” he shrugged, and they wordlessly headed to the bar.

One drink quickly became a few, the alcohol loosening their tongues—and their inhibitions. Later on, he could hardly remember what was discussed, and was only surprised to discover that they’d both been in town as long as either could remember and just somehow hadn’t had a chance to meet. A pity, that.

Because she was a divine kisser.

He wasn’t even sure how it had started; they were just suddenly too close—her lips looking far too delectable—and he needed to taste them. They were rum-soaked but sweet, whatever drug-store chapstick she wore getting lost in the shuffle of their lips. 

When their hands began to wander, someone told them they needed to take their activities elsewhere, so they stumbled out into the chill night—but didn’t go much farther than the side of the building. They weren’t the first to engage in traditionally horizontal activities on the vertical brick surface, and likely wouldn’t be the last. 

He pressed her against the edifice, quickly finding her lips again and cupping her pert rear with his hand, settling his hook at her waist. Her hands slipped under his leather jacket to grip his hips, though one eventually drifted up to his chest; her palm felt like fire through the thin cotton of his tshirt. 

She started to wobble—no thanks to her impractical footwear—so he slid his hand down her thigh and pulled her leg around him, letting her feel the evidence of his arousal. She groaned into his mouth and arched her hips against his, making him bite back his own cry of want.

“Can I?” she breathed, one hand on the button of his jeans. 

“Please,” he practically begged. 

She made quick work of the fly, and her own situation was easy to deal with. It wasn’t elegant—one might even call it quick and dirty—but they soon found release then and there, under the flickering streetlight outside the bar. 

As quickly as they’d come undone, they righted themselves—but he was enjoying himself too much to leave it at that.

“Y’know, my place is just a block away,” she said softly, but desire was dripping from the simple statement.

“Lead the way, love,” he replied—and oh, he loved to watch her lead.

----------------

Months later—after the curse was broken, after Killian had finally met and inevitably fallen head over heels for the blonde sheriff who absolutely upended everything in his life—did he finally realize that his lover-turned-friend (with benefits) was actually in love with his mortal enemy.

Yet another thing he could hold over the Crocodile’s head, he supposed: he knew how to make Belle come.

----------------------------------------------

yeah, I stand by that last line.

no idea who to tag but some of you that might like it: @kat2609 @optomisticgirl @thesschesthair @laschatzi @cocohook38 @kmomof4 @word-bug @pirateherokillian @scientificapricot @stubblesandwich @ohmightydevviepuu @shireness-says @phiralovesloki @profdanglaisstuff @initiala @idoltina @thejollyroger-writer @let-it-raines @donteattheappleshook​. Feel free to ignore; I have no idea who is into this.

[paint-lady]

hey, if you don't mind, i want your advice: i'm going to be running a chronicle set in chicago (i am using the chicago by night 5e book) for players who are new to vampire for the most part in a few days and i can't For The Life of Me to come up with an interesting chronicle hook (yeah i have read the hooks in the book). any ideas/suggestions/general advice?

Hiya! I could talk your ears off on how I write my chronicles- so hopefully I have taken all my processes and reduced it down to a lovely World of Darkness jam. 

Here are two good hooks I just came up with- feel free to use them! The third is what I got for my first chronicle, and I just think its a narrative that works very well for new players.

>Option 1: Guilty Until Proven Innocent ”Chicago is a series of paradoxes and transitions, of ever changing paradigms and whimsy,” (CbN 47). Have your coterie be newbies to the city. Ask why they have come to Chicago. Power? A new start? Perhaps this is a political arrangement between the clan of one city with another. Whatever their reason, they have arrived right when a Primogen vanishes- and guess who is first on the suspect list? The fresh faces on the streets >:) The coterie, having barely settled, has to suddenly prove their innocence. And finding evidence lets them uncover something much more sinister....

This one is ideal for new players as it sets everyone on an equal footing. Even if they create a character that has been a vampire for 50+ years and has amassed several dots of influence, herd, status- whatever, they are still new to the city. And being new means you have to start all over again. (This may be frustrating to a player that invested all those points at character creation- but it is on you as the ST to make sure they have opportunities to use those dots and on them as a player to think cleverly.)

Starting the tale off with defending their innocence is actually a very engaging questline. It effectively sets the stage for the political powerhouses. It lets new players know there are rules- and those in power are watching. It also sets the consequences for failure. Understand that the Camarilla probably isnt going to outright kill the coterie if they fail- always make the punishment just harsh and grueling enough to make final death feel like a mercy. Failure isn’t the end of the story.

For new players- I would be lenient with the time it takes for them to find evidence. But within reason. Think like your Prince and Seneschal. Do you really want this coterie running around for a full week, unsupervised, making more messes? No. You don’t. (You might wanna send an npc with them to watch and keep em out of trouble. Your npc is also able to vouch for them.)

This story lends itself to be a Camarilla Chronicle very easily. You can go Anarch, but an Anarch leader suddenly vanishing and blaming the newbies is much more quickly going to end with blood spilled. Thank your local sweeper.

> Option 2: Containment Breach Blacksite 24 (Loresheet on page 264) was temporarily occupied by Operation Firstlight. It has now been transformed into a medical research facility. While most kindred of Chicago know of Blacksite 24, they have zero clue what happens inside other than bad news for them- the less they know the safer they are. The chronicle opens with a car crash. The captured soon-to-be coterie was in transit to this feared medical facility. The crash did kill the driver and the agent in charge of transporting them. The crash did not fully break their restraints, but it did enough damage that first responders are freaking out. They are all at hunger 3. The chronicle is a hunt. The coterie should have some knowledge of what had happened to them and how lucky they are to have escaped. Operatives are already on their way to recapture them. They must hide in this city- and do their best to survive and stay out of sight.

The point of this story is to invoke dread. I highly recommend one player either being a thin-blood (or an npc) with the Daydrinker merit, or a player to have a ghoul. If they decide to not have a daywatch, they increase their chance of being found.

This story also sets up a feeling of desperation. They would be willing to take shelter from anyone- anyone. Eventually the other kindred will catch on that these guys are on the run from something. Any sane kindred would toss them out to protect themselves. A compassionate kindred who takes them in will suffer the final death as a compassionate fool- or join them in captivity. 

This story lends itself to be an Anarch Chronicle much more easily. This is the time the Camarilla will likely be a bit more paranoid and bloody. While they might not outright kill the coterie- they will send them somewhere that is a death trap. They wont dirty their hands with this. After all, you do not want any evidence to fall into the hands of the SI if you hired the hit.

This story is ideal for newbies without background merits. No allies, no influence, no herd. Let them take more mythic merits such as bloodhound and unbondable (Consider finding some from V20 too! There are some really awesome supernatural merits!). These powers would certainly be more fascinating for a medical team to study- not how many instagram followers they have. This kind of story also lets your players feel more powerful- but out of the loop. It lends itself to them forging alliances and getting caught in one-sided favors a lot more quickly. 

The challenging aspect of this story is that is starts with a masquerade breach. New players may not know how to handle such a blatant breach and thats okay. I would let the crash slide- and the Camarilla in the background handles it. Breaches after the crash need to be handled with proper consequences. 

> Option 3: New Blood This is what my storyteller did to me and my first time players (and its also very close to the plot of CoNY). We were shovelheads. Embraced to make a huge mess for the Camarilla and die quick deaths. We were all thin-bloods. The last thing the pcs remember is the sweet rush of ecstasy washing over them, before clawing out of the earth and driven mad by an insatiable hunger. The thrill of the hunt, and the sweet, warm blood on their tongue, nothing was going to be better. All three will awake next to each other, surrounded by the corpses they drank dry in their frenzy. What a way to play the name game! The players have three nights were they figure out their new condition or coverup their tracks (if they think to do it). They contend with their hunger and hatred of sunlight, wrestle with accidentally drinking their family member dry. After three nights, the Scourge comes knocking. Rather than outright killed, they are dragged to Elysium. For some reason, they are adopted by an upstanding member of the Camarilla- or the Prince orders a political rival care for them (hoping they fail). The players are the errand childer of this kindred, and slowly they figure out what they have been gathering through all these errands....

This one lets the characters all have the moments where they discover their disciplines and powers- and bestial tendencies. It naturally flows to allow players to slowly discover the rules and mechanics as well. All players must play fledglings for this tale. 

This story is much more a personal tale than a political one. Eventually politics makes its way in...but it does not have to be a focus. 

This story has less of a hook and more of a “Figure it Out” survival mode until the errands begin. The story is how the character’s react to their condition. It very quickly lends itself to a narrative of finding your own path in the night, rather than mindlessly obeying.

So here are a few questions that I ask myself when crafting a chronicle story:

1. What kind of story do you want to tell? Not asking for a plot hook, I’m asking for a general concept. Is it a tale of good triumphing over evil? (Not necessarily a wrong answer, but if you wanna play good guys...vampire is not the best game for that). Is this a chase? Is this a race against time? 

2. How do you want your story to make your players feel? Do you want to tell a story that invokes as much dread as possible in your players? Do you want them to feel ultra powerful? Vampire is both a power fantasy and a dread inducing game- it can do both. 

3. If you don’t know what kind of story you want to tell, switch gears to worldbuilding. CbN has so many NPCs with the rumors already written for you. Its your setting, perhaps switch two rumors around with prominent NPCs. Decide which ones are true in your setting- Maybe Primogen Annabell did kill her predecessor. Perhaps the Lasombra are attempting to infiltrate the Camarilla as everyone fears- but no one is able to prove it or stop it. Deciding what is true, false, and undetermined usually blossoms into hooks and stories worth investigating.

4. What is a historical event of the city that the Vampires would have endured/ scars would have remained? For example, in my chronicle set in Richmond, the tale of the Richmond Vampire is true. Depending on who you ask, it is the Camarilla’s best or sloppiest cover up. Have the chronicle coincide with the events and the coterie live through them. No one said this must take place in 2021- you can do 2015, 2008, -hell go back the 1990s. Its actually super fun if you set your chronicle in the 90s and your Malkavian is using phrases from 2020.

5. One of my things I do when writing scenes and moments is play Dread by myself. Dread is a role playing game played with jenga. There are no dice rolls, if you want to attempt something, you have to pull pieces from the tower. If the tower falls, you die. If there is a moment where I really really really dont want to pull from the tower, though the reward for succeeding is so so sweet- I keep the moment. If its really easy to shrug and go eh, I can live without performing that action- go back and rewrite it. If you have no incentive to pull from the tower, why would they?

6. Examine your player’s desires and ambitions- and do not neglect them in your chronicle. The plot wont magically allow all of them to achieve their ambitions. However, provide opportunities for them through the plot. Its on them to strive for what their character wants- its on you to make them struggle but have the path to get there. For example, if a player wants to become a Baron, provide a political opening. Perhaps then by announcing their power, they have made a bigger name for themselves and it has become harder to hide. Perhaps by doing this, the kindred they owe a favor is suddenly much more vocal about it. 

Here are some suggestions for handling new players:

> You are going to have to handhold them through some things. New players to vtm won’t be able to see the cascading political web and how the consequences of their actions will ripple into waves. I like to use Wits+Insight and call it Common Sense. Common Sense was a merit in V20- and damn is it WONDERFUL. All they need is just 1 success (they can take half) to have you explain how whatever plan they just thought of is actually a TERRIBLE idea. 

> Do your RPG consent list. Know what is safe to discuss and what is off the table. I highly recommend utilizing something my Storyteller used for my first chronicle, and subsequently I use for all my ttrpgs now: Invoking the Veil. The metaphor is that you are slowly lessening the intensity of a scene- as if raising the opacity or looking through layers of fabric. Eventually, there is too much fabric and you can no longer see the scene. If something is too intense, the ST or the player may announce they are invoking the veil. Reduce the scene by lowering music, speaking in third person, or avoiding heavy descriptors. You can reduce it further to just dice rolls. Role play stops, and the consequences of the scene are solely dictated by the dice. Or fade to black. If a player is repeatedly fading to black on something- ask to talk to them about it. Clearly something is too intense and they are not having as much fun as they can. Debriefing after a session is also a good idea. Do something silly! Share and check all the memes in the discord chat. Its important to make sure you and your players know that at the end of the night- its all just a game.

> I find the sabbat and new players don’t tend to mix well. You may absolutely still use the sabbat in your chronicle! But the dogma and philosophical ideals of the sabbat can be offputting and downright upsetting to a first time player. You may absolutely build to it- that’s what I did to my players. And in the moment of the truth, they chose to cling to humanity. 

> The taking half mechanic is your friend! V5 says players may announce how many dice they are rolling- and if the dividend is greater than the DC- they auto succeed. This streamlines play. Of course, you as the Storyteller may say this is a roll they are not allowed to take half on. Usually these are contested rolls (combat).

> The three turns and out rule keeps combat intense but not too lengthy. It actually streamlines encounters super super well. 

> My ST used a phrase, “The quickest way to kill Cthulhu is to give it a healthbar.” If Methuselahs and Elders are involved in your game- avoid giving them stat blocks. This cultivates a conflict that new players must find a way to overcome without brute force combat. It makes them think critically and defy these super old antagonists through narrative means. This also gets the notion out of your and their heads, “if they die, its over.” Its never that easy. Never. 

[slade-neko]

Saw this video game tag thing pop up on my dash a few days ago. Wanted to do it.

1. First game you played obsessively? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I believe I was 5yo. Still waiting on that FF7 Remake treatment.

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. Well if I play a game and like it, then I'll create sims of it. Does that count?

3. Who did you play with as a kid? My brother from the day I was born.

4. Who do you play with now? My brother FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN.

5. Ever use cheat codes? I wasn't lying when I made this post. {link}

6. Ever buy strategy guides? Yes! Mainly to look at the artwork though. (Don't need no guide!)

7. Any games you have multiple copies of? Lots of games, most being Left 4 Dead with 6 copies (3 Xbox 360, 1 PC case, 2 PC digitally.) What can I say, its a GOOD GAME!

8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection? Gold cartridge Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (maybe that's rare?)

9. Most regrettable purchase? I don't regret my purchases, but I have received games I have never played like Cubix (PS2) no clue where that game came from, but I have it somehow. Madagascar (Xbox 360) came with my Xbox 360, never opened it from its case. And Monsters Inc. Scream Arena (Gamecube) or something... it was a gift.

10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games? I'm only friends with people BECAUSE of video games, so yes.

12. Ever get picked on for liking games? No, that'd be ridiculous.

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has? Probably a lot, I'd say Call of Duty, but I technically played CoD 1, 2, and 4. The campaign mode was alright, but I don't really care for CoD games at ALL.

14. Favorite game music? Koji Kondo and Grant Kirkhope are two BIG ones.

15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick? Triforce is the most basic option, but I'd rather not get a tattoo.

16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL? Super Smash Bros. Brawl with hacks, but that was over a decade ago.

17. Ever lose a friend over a game? No, that'd be ridiculous.

18. Would you date someone that hates gaming? No, that'd be RIDICULOUS.

19. Favorite handheld console? PSP. 3DS is great, but PSP Monster Hunter has ALL of my portable gaming memories. Like playing in school after End of Grade tests with my friend.

20. Game that you know like the back of your hand? Sims 4 I like to think I know everything about Left 4 Dead. Quite a bit about Monster Hunter, more so of a series though than a specific game.

21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now? I'd say Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I loved it as a kid, but had a lot of complex pen & paper RPG mechanics that I never understood. I understand a lot more of it now, but its still complex as all heck. I just know you hit things, they die.

22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories? That's the only thing I wear.

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Not sure so I'll list a few. Sims 4, Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter (its a series though), or Left 4 Dead

24. First Pokemon game? Leaf Green

25. Were you ever an arcade game player? No, don't like paying to play.

26. Ever form any gaming rivalries? No.

27. Game that makes you rage? I don't get mad at games, but I had a custom modded Hard Eight mutation in Left 4 Dead that is absolute bullsh*t!

28. Ever play in a tournament? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

29. What is your gaming set up? A giant wall of video game consoles spanning from NES to Switch, 4 TVs, but I sit at a desk with a PC.

30. How many consoles do you own? "I own every console that's ever existed." - I Don't Play Games When I Play Games (My STRENTH) original song by Smooth McGroove BUT no seriously I own 32 consoles including handhelds.

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches? Yes. 3DS gave me headaches though I only really played with the 3D feature in Ocarina of Time 3D. I think my eyes broke because I couldn't get my 3D to work very well after.

32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic? Sure I play games based on a lot of things. Literally any anime game. If I had to pick Dragon Ball Xenoverse is kinda like a dream Dragon Ball game. Oh, Attack on Titan 2 is pretty neat too!

33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games? Some SEGA plug-n-play thing once. Played it like once and now its lost to time (or my closet.)

34. Do either of your parents play video games? Yes. Mom and Dad played NES Super Mario Bros. My Dad went HARD at that game until he saved the Princess. Then he quit forever.

35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop? "Hi. Welcome to Gamestop!"I never want to hear that again, but it was my main store until I went full digital/ online orders.

36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game? No, I don't tend to get upset or emotional, but Bill dying in Left 4 Dead made me pretty pissed.

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination? Never played it. I don't really play "bad" games, but maybe Sims 4.

38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like? The Sims 4

39. A sequel that you would die for them to make? Dragon's Dogma 2 WHICH I think is actually in development, so I'd have to say Fallout New Vegas 2. C'mon Bethesda you cowards, hand the keys back over to Obsidian so they can make another good Fallout game!

40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls? Two part question, two answers. VR Headset to immerse in world, yes. Motion Controls, no.

41. A genre that you just can’t get into? MOBAs and MMOs. I don't like paying to keep playing.

42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness? Nintendo 64 opened me up to what video games could be as a kid. Sad to say my parents' NES didn't really do that for me. And years later Fallout 3 was a big game changer for me too.

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else? Every day of my LIFE.

44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters? None. I'd rather emulate.

45. How are you at Mario Kart? Pretty dang good. 3-STARS MARIO KART WII, BABY!

46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Yes, both of those. I preferred when Animal Crossing had more character to it. New Horizons looks so pretty, but feels so bland compared to classic AC.

47. Do you like competitive games? No. Not really. Usually amongst friends or if I can get competitive against AI Bots. I love my machine bot friends cause they don't cry like 10 year olds when they lose.

48. How long does it take your to customize your player character? Too long. I've seriously restarted games because I wasn't happy with my character's appearance.

49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Yes, I am always the magic man, my brother is always brute warrior, and my friend is the ranger.

50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create? I don't really know. Honestly, I'd rather mod already good games to make them better than create something completely new.

51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep? No, that'd be ridiculous. But I've had a friend fall asleep playing games at my house 3 different times and currently dozes off during our Minecraft sessions. So, maybe that's not a completely ridiculous thing after all.

52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid? Kirby 64 apparently. My brother tells me we had to count out pennies to buy it. I must've been too young with no recollection, but I believe it.

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days? It's good if its not in the game's files from the beginning and is actually developed AFTER launch... and pre-order bonuses should be standard DLC a month or two later. Some games have content lost to time because of that pre-order bullsh*t.

54. Do you give in to Steam sales? Of course. If you want a game and its on sale then why not? I typically wait just for Steam sales to get games.

55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them? No? I typically make people and characters I like in Sims. I've made villains like Dio, but he's an anime villain and I don't really HATE him despite the horrible things he's done.

56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests? No. Never played that game.

57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements? I try to for all the games I really like.

58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? The Sims 4, Skyrim, & Fallout: New Vegas. Mods make them live forever. Left 4 Dead and Monster Hunter are good choices too.

59. Do you play any cell phone games? Those aren't games.

60. Do you know the Konami Code? No? But I'll take a guess. Is it make an IP and forget it exists?

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever? Keep forever... even the bad ones.

62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game? PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter World. It was basically for early access since the PC version was being developed and releasing after PS4, but I don't like waiting.

63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? Sort of. Been to anime cons and walked into the gaming tournament rooms only to walk out less than 10 minutes later.

64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming? No, but I'm going to be doing that soon, hopefully.

65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file? GameShark for N64, PS2, Gameboy, and Action Replay for Gamecube, DS, 3DS. And no not really, I would cheat responsibly... but there was this one time at school my friend and I borrowed another friend's Gameboy game, loaded it up with my Gameshark, tried playing, it crashed, loaded it back up, save file corrupted... we just stared at each other jaws dropped, "Here's your game back, dude. Make sure you don't play it til you get back home!"

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it? No, but I remember seeing them on billboards in the game DRIV3R on PS2.

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share? Every game I play is filled with happy memories (mostly.)

68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool? These tiger plushes. My brother got white and I got orange. They were the coolest. Got a butt load of tickets from some jackpot spinning light game thing as I was good at the timing with repeated jackpot hits.

69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I've played quite a few masterpiece games, but to pick one, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas

70. Very first game you ever beat? Super Mario 64. I was a mere child on a Sunday morning and ate celebratory pancakes made by my Dad.

Wow, that was long... I get the feeling this was supposed to be a "send me ask with numbers" thing, but answering all at once is more fun.

[hyunjin-bun]

The  Good Mistake {Bokuto x Akaashi and Kuroo x Kenma}

synopsis: Where Akaashi and Bokuto have to come to terms with how they feel and Kuroo and Kenma have to discover their feelings.

pairings: Bokuto x Akaashi and Kuroo x Kenma

genre: FLUFF! (or at least trying to be) crack (but like it wasn’t supposed to be that’s just what happened) mutual pining some light angst here and there.

warnings: Swearing if there are anymore you think i should add just dm me.

note: oh my god guys. Idk what to tell you just that this chapter is MASSIVE. Its over 4k words😲 and not my intention but i just couldn't find it in my heart to split this one up. Uhm so its the second last chapter and I’m honestly really proud of this one so hopefully ya’ll like it👀

If you’d like to be tagged just send me an ask (or a message if you feel to awkward with asks cos same👀💛) Enjoy!💕

I Missed You

Kuroo woke up with a start as his alarm on his phone blared. It was Monday and time to get ready for work. Turning around to switch his alarm off he remembered Kenma breaking down in his arms last night. And looked back to his other side and saw Kenma right where he’d left him. His eyes, although closed, were still puffy around the edges.  Otherwise, he seemed peaceful.

It made Kuroo’s heartbreak because he knew how important last night was for both of them but he wouldn’t be able to spend the day with Kenma. He didn’t want to wake him up but also didn’t want to leave without a word. He carefully untangled himself and walked towards Kenma’s pc, which was still on. He opened a new document and typed out a note knowing Kenma would go to his computer first.

I don’t know when you’ll wake up but I will most likely be at work when you do, and I felt that leaving without saying anything would be wrong. But Kozume, I will try to get home as soon as possible this evening because I really feel that I need to talk to you. So be ready at about six and we can go out tonight like we used to. See you then.

,Tetsurou  <3

After finishing the note, he got up, grabbed his phone, and closed the room as quietly as possible.

Only to walk straight into Bokuto. “Jesus Bo,” he whispered harshly while reeling back slightly. He let out a sigh as he closed his eyes rubbing the sleep off his face. “Wow, I’m sorry I have to go to practice early. Where you with Kenma the whole night, what happened?” Bokuto said with a questioning look.

He wouldn’t have been so curious if Kuroo hadn’t confided in him all the emotions he had been feeling for Kenma that one night the both of them got unnecessarily drunk and the other two boys had gone to bed early. “No no nothing happened we just haven’t spent a lot of time with each other recently so we watched some movies and caught up that’s all,” he said as he walked passed Bokuto to go get ready in his room.

Bokuto caught put his hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving further, “Look Kuroo, I have a feeling that you should say something to Kenma. I’m sure you’re scared of what it would entail between the two of you but you gotta take that leap bro.” Kuroo looked back at him and nodded slowly, “Thanks Bo, I’m thinking about it.” He started walking away as he remembered what he would be doing that evening. “Oh and I’ll be taking Kenma out tonight after work so we probably won't be home until quite late.”

Bokuto smiled at that, “That’s great dude! Okay well, I’m taking Keiji out for dinner tonight so we’ll probably be leaving the house after you fetch Kenma.” Kuroo nodded thanks and went to take a quick shower. He then grabbed his bag as well as all the documents he needed and left for work hoping that his day wouldn’t be too long.

<----->

The sun was fully up and shining intensely through his window when Kenma woke up. The air around him felt empty as he noticed the absence of Kuroo. He sat up as he remembered it was Monday so he probably woke up early to leave for work. He flopped back down onto his bed breathing in the scent of Kuroo mixing with his. It was intoxicating and sweet and he instantly missed the warmth that was next to him not so long ago.

His eyes felt heavy and he had a slight headache.  It had been an exhausting evening the night before trying to keep himself from doing anything stupid with Kuroo but he broke in the end and nearly fucked it up. After touching Kuroo’s face causing him to wake up, he panicked and just broke down, but even then, as he was falling apart, Kuroo held him and it felt like all the pieces of the puzzle that made up Kenma were glued together. He felt safe in Kuroo’s arms. Safer than he’d ever felt.

Deciding that maybe taking a shower would help with the slight headache and the puffiness of his face he got up slowly. He looked toward his pc and noticed a document open. He didn’t remember opening one the night before so he went towards it and noticed a short paragraph, it was from Kuroo.

He read the note over and over again and kept freezing at the heart Kuroo put after his name. He wanted Kenma to be ready at six so they could go out and talk. What could Kuroo possible want to talk about tonight?

Kenma started to get worried and figured Kuroo had realised what the problem was and was just trying to find a way to let him down easily. The time was 12 pm so he had a few more hours to psyche himself up for what was going to happen. 

<----->

The day moved agonizingly slow for Kuroo, but finally, after he finished some filing his boss said it was okay for him to go at ten to six. Kuroo groaned in frustration as he got into his car. It took 15 minutes to get back to their apartment, that’s if he was lucky and there was no traffic. As he got onto the highway he switched his radio on to have some music in the background to calm his nerves at least a little. He thanked his lucky stars as he saw there was no traffic.

He looked at his watch and noticed he was five minutes late already so opting to not make Kenma wait any longer than he had to he decided against going inside to change. He loosened his tie and threw it into the back of his car and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt which helped cool him down while his heart raced a mile a minute.

He pulled up in front of their apartment building but there was no sign of Kenma. He hadn’t messaged him or gotten confirmation if he even wanted to go or not so he decided to send him a message.

Kuroo: Hey, I’m waiting outside. Do you wanna go out tonight? It's okay if you don’t

His palms started sweating as he expected Kenma to say no. He sighed with relief as a notification popped up.

Kenma: I do, I’m coming.

His response was short and simple but it made Kuroo’s stomach burst with butterflies. He smiled and couldn’t stop. He put his phone into the console and got out to stretch his legs for a couple of seconds and take off his blazer.

He heard the buzzer of the door to the building and looked up to see Kenma stumbling down the steps towards the car.

Kenma looked up at him looking almost defensive. Kuroo smiled at him hoping to ease him up a bit, “You ready to go Kenma?” Kenma looked at him almost annoyed, “I’ve been waiting since six so I guess so.” He said as he opened the car door and Kuroo laughed at the playful rudeness.

Kenma hopped into the passenger seat and Kuroo got into the drivers. “Okay so, what do you wanna do first?” he said as he buckled his seat belt.

“I thought you had something already planned,” Kenma looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean, I don’t I kinda just wanted to do things you want to I guess,” Kuroo said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Kenma sighed as he put his legs up on the dash, “Okay well, I’m kind of hungry I guess.” Kuroo praised his choice because he was practically starving; the last time he ate was a quick sandwich he bought from the café down the road from his work.

Starting the car, he drove to their favourite restaurant, which was not very far from where they stayed.  As they got out of the car it gave Kuroo a moment to notice Kenma’s appearance, he was wearing an obnoxiously bright yellow hoodie and black sweatpants. His hear was tied back in a low messy bun. Some strands of hair were too short to fit so they just hung loosely and almost angelically framed his face.

It was a bit chilly out so Kuroo grabbed the spare sweater he kept in his car. Now he looked somewhat less formal.

Kenma shivered as the walked up the path to the restaurant. He almost thought that the air around them would be awkward and uncomfortable but as per usual with Kuroo he somehow managed to put Kenma at ease. Every time.

This time it was the smile he got from Kuroo as he walked to the car earlier. It relieved some of the anxiety that had started to build up in the pit of his stomach. They got a booth almost at the back of the restaurant and Kenma couldn’t help but feel like he was on a date with Kuroo but he knew it was anything but that.

It felt very private sitting where they were sitting. Kenma liked it like this. He watched as Kuroo sat down and opened the menu to pick something. Kenma mirrored him even though he knew what he’d be getting. They ordered their drinks and food at the same time and the waiter left.

Kuroo put his elbows up on the table and balanced one hand under his chin looking at Kenma, “You wanna talk about what happened last night or not now?” Kenma placed his hand on the table trying to seem more open. He didn’t want Kuroo to think he’d keep being defensive. “I don’t think I’m quite ready to talk yet Tetsu.”

Kuroo huffed out a small chuckle and smiled at him, “That’s okay we can build up to it, what did you do today?” Kenma started to relax as he recounted probably his most boring day ever. He wasn’t really in the mood to stream because he knows his fans would have noticed how anxious he was and he wasn’t up to answering the questions they would throw at him so he’d basically sat and played games.

Kuroo looked almost sympathetic, “Why didn’t you feel up to streaming?” Kenma shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess it’s the same reason for last night.” Kuroo nodded and was about to say something when the waiter arrived with their order. While eating he listened carefully as Kuroo told him about how boring his day was too and how it went by so slowly because he was looking forward to tonight. This surprised Kenma. What was Kuroo so excited about?

He decided asking won't kill anyone except maybe his will to live. “Wha-Kenma why wouldn’t I be excited? We haven’t hung out like this in a long time and well,” he paused and couldn’t help the blood rush up to his cheeks, “Well I missed you Kenma.”

Kenma was taken aback at how forward Kuroo was being. Of course, they’d been forward with each other in the past about certain small things but never about each other. He felt a glimmer of hope in his heart at this.

Kuroo was worried if he’d said too much because of the look of surprise on Kenma’s face. Kenma looked down at his food and mumbled just loud enough for Kuroo to hear, “Well I’ve missed you too.”

Kenma looked back up to see Kuroo practically beaming, and Kenma couldn’t help but smile at him in return as his ears burned. They continued to eat in comfortable silence.

Kenma was nearly finished with his sushi when Kuroo asked what he wanted to do next. “Mmn no I chose the first thing, it's your turn now,” Kenma said after gulping the last bit of food down. Kuroo just smiled at him, “okay fine.” He didn’t say anymore and asked for the bill.

After paying they went to the car and Kenma stopped before opening the door. “Okay, where are we going Tetsu?” The man supported a mischievous grin on his face while shaking his head, “You’ll have to see when we get there Kenma.”

Kuroo drove for about 10 minutes and suddenly they were in the heart of the city. He parallel parked on the side of the street and looked at Kenma “You ready?” “Kuroo I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be ready for,” Kenma said incredulously. “Come on then,” Kuroo said as he stepped out of the car.

Kenma followed suit and shuffled closer to Kuroo when he walked around the car. It was busy in the city. Not as busy as it would be on a weekend but close enough. “Hold my hand so you don’t lose me?” Kuroo said, observing the fact that Kenma was becoming reserved at the sight of all the people walking around.

Kenma looked up at Kuroo with his eyes wide, “uh-uhm, you want to hold my hand?” he said as his face gradually got hotter. “Well yeah so I don’t lose you in the crowd,” he noted as he held out his hand for Kenma to take. Kenma hesitated long enough for Kuroo to think it was too much but Kenma took his hand. Holding Kuroo’s hand is everything he felt it would be and more. His hands were surprisingly soft and of course bigger than his.

Kuroo tried his hardest to hide the blush that had wound its way to his cheeks when Kenma took his hand. He had to remind himself that he used the excuse of not losing Kenma in the crowd of people and that they aren’t just like all the other couples he’d noticed walking around.

He led Kenma down one of the many alleys and stopped in front of a shop with lots of bright colours and lights. It was a game store he was told about by one of his colleagues at work and instantly thought about taking Kenma there. He wanted to do it for their first date but obviously, he hadn’t asked Kenma out.

He looked down at Kenma expectantly and his breath hitched when he saw how the lights reflected against his skin and how the lights made his eyes seem especially bright. “Tetsu how did you find out about this place it's beautiful,” Kenma said looking through the window at all the shelves and things on the walls.

“Beautiful,” He mumbled still looking at Kenma. Kenma turned to look at Kuroo, “What?” The sudden eye contact threw Kuroo out of his trance and he looked dowm, “Uh, yeah so one of my colleagues who is like 70 years old was telling me about his grandkids favourite store and its uh, this one.” Kenma just nodded and looked back through the window, “Well can we go in?”

Kuroo laughed and looked into the store too, “No of course not I just felt like making you look into your version of heaven and then drag your ass back home, seriously Kenma, of course we can.” Kenma gave him a small smile and pulled him into the store.

Stepping into the store was a big relief to Kenma because he was able to get out of the crowded and loud streets. There weren’t a lot of people inside the store maybe about 7 including him and Kuroo. The walls and ceiling were black and they had blue and red lights on either side of the room. There were posters all over the walls showing the new releases and life-size figures of characters were dotted here and there.

Kenma realised he was still holding Kuroo’s hand and let go thinking it wasn’t necessary anymore. Kuroo’s expression was unreadable as he let go. He was smiling but his eyes seemed to convey something different. He walked further into the store running his hands along the shelves, Kuroo watched him for a couple of seconds before following after him slowly. His hand felt empty without Kenma’s hand in it and he yearned to satiate his need for the feeling of Kenma’s skin against his.

They walked around and talked in the store until the owner said he’d be closing in 15 minutes. So Kenma quickened his pace and grabbed things he saw that he wanted to get. Kuroo was following him until he stopped and saw something that he wanted to get for Kenma.

It was a small pendant of one of the cats from Animal Crossing who Kuroo remembers was very similar to Kenma. They were both lazy and both would do activities if told they could get something like food out of it and just his general feel about him was very Kenma-ish. He smiled as he took the pendant off the shelf.

“Are you coming Kuroo?” he heard Kenma call for him. He looked up and Kenma had finished paying and was waiting for him by the door. “Oh yeah, I’m coming just wait for me there.” He replied as he gave the chain to the man at the register so he could pay for it. He declined a packet and slipped the chain into his pocket and thanked the cashier.

He and Kenma left the shop back into the street which had calmed down a bit so there were not as many people. Kenma looked up at Kuroo as they started to walk back to the car, “Hey thank you for tonight. I really enjoyed myself Tetsu.” Kuroo nodded and smiled in response, “I’m glad, and you seemed happier too.”

He then thought of an idea remembering what Bokuto had said to him that morning, “But, we aren’t done yet,” he said as he stopped in his tracks. Kenma stopped midstride and turned to look at him. “What do you mean, what else do you want to do?”

Kuroo then continued walking with a grin on his face. “Wh-what’s up with all these surprises Tetsu.” He grumbled as he followed Kuroo. Once they were back in the car Kuroo put the heater on as the temperature dropped a bit and his sweater was not nearly warm enough. He started to drive leaving the city and Kenma hooked up his phone to the cars speaker system to play some music that he liked.

Kuroo actually preferred listening to whatever Kenma played because he had a wider variety of genres that he listened to so he could go from hardcore rap to the softest and romantic music you could find yourself listening to. His favourite was a song called carry you by Ruelle which Kenma started to play.

He found himself humming along to the words and feels them resonate through the way he was feeling about Kenma at that moment. He stopped at a spot that was halfway up a mountain but had a beautiful view of the city. He stopped the car but kept it on to let the song play through until it ended.

Kenma looked out onto the view with wonder. He wasn’t the kind of person to travel much even if it was just down the road and even then he didn’t take much notice of the scenery around him. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. “Wow, Tetsu. This is…” he let out a huff as he smiled obviously speechless, “why did you bring me out here though?”

Kuroo continued to look out the window with determination. He had to go through with this. He couldn’t just keep himself from finding out what would happen. He was scared but it had to be done. “I have to confess something to you Kenma. I can’t keep it inside anymore it’s not fair to me or you.”

Kenma instantly felt a cold feeling wash over him. He knew what was coming and could feel his eyes start to burn as the tears threatened to flow. He tried to remain calm though. This needed to happen. No matter how much it hurts him it's necessary. He braced himself for the rejection.

Kuroo turned to look at Kenma but couldn’t see what was happening on his face as he was facing away. So he took that leap, “I think I’m in love with you Kenma.” As he said this he saw a tear roll down Kenma’s face.

Kenma whipped his head to the side so he could look at Kuroo, the look of absolute surprise very evident on his face. His jaw dropped open in complete disbelief. “What! is it that surprising?” Kuroo said. Kenma tried to regain his composure, “Tetsu are you sure?” he couldn’t believe what was coming from Kuroo’s mouth. Kuroo raised his eyebrow at him, “What do you mean ‘am I sure’ Kenma I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

Kuroo couldn’t quite read the emotions on Kenma’s face but he knew they weren’t bad. Maybe he had nothing to worry about?

Kenma moved so he could sit facing Kuroo directly, “Jesus Tetsurou I-well I love you too.” He looked as if he was close to tears as his gaze found its way to Kuroo’s. It was Kuroo’s turn to be surprised and he instantly smiled and looked down as if he was embarrassed about it.

Kenma rubbed his eyes to get rid of the tears that had threatened to fall not even minutes before. Kuroo looked back up again, “Is that what’s been bothering you lately?” Kenma laughed as he sniffed. Kuroo was oblivious but he wasn’t a complete idiot. “Yeah actually I wanted to talk to you about it but I was too scared that it would mean losing you and I don’t think I’d be able to handle that.”

Kuroo looked at him with a serious expression on his face. “So are you okay now, since it’s in the open?” Kenma nodded his head with a small smile. Kuroo lifted his hand to push back some hair that had fallen into Kenma’s face and he kept it there as he moved closer, his eyes keeping Kenma’s locked into place “May I kiss you Kenma?” Kenma nodded as he moved closer.

Kuroo cupped Kenma’s face between both his hands and lightly grazed his thumb over his cheekbone. Slowly he brushed his nose against Kenma’s and pressed their lips together as softly as he could to test out the waters to make sure he was completely okay with this. Kenma leaned more forward as he wrapped his arms around Kuroo’s neck and tangled his hands in his hair.

He sighed as Kuroo deepened the kiss, their lips moving in sync with each other. Kuroo bit Kenma’s bottom lip softly earning himself a small moan from him. Needing air, they pulled away from each other but Kuroo kept his forehead pressed against Kenma’s.

“God I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything sooner.“ He huffed out with a laugh and continued, “will you go out with me. On a date next time?” Kenma opened his eyes and smiled, “Yes Tetsu.” Kuroo giggled and kissed him again longer this time. After what felt like hours they untangled from each other but still stayed close.

“Oh I meant to ask you Tetsu, what did you get from the store earlier?” Kenma asked with a curious look on his face. Kuroo blanked for a second before remembering, “Oh shit, yeah. Well, remember when you introduced me to Animal Crossing and I told you my favourite villager in your village was that lazy cat named Bob?”

Kenma nodded, “It was actually because he reminded me of you. And when I walked past one of the stands earlier I saw this.” He reached into his pocket and brought out the chain with the pendant on it. “So I wanted to buy it for you.”

Kenma looked down at the chain hanging between them. He looked at Kuroo and smiled, “This may be the cutest thing anyone has ever gotten me Tetsu, thank you.” He took the chain from Kuroo and slipped it over his head holding the pendant of the lazy purple cat in his hand.

Kenma grabbed his phone to play music through it and they sat together listening to love songs that somehow deepened the already ocean depth love they had for each other.

Tagging: @gabbywubby  @shou-kunn @super-noya @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @pudding-head-kenma @thirsthourdemon @thesecretlifeoflilly

[neptunium134]

Death of the Small Coopers mini-analysis, part 4

Okay, reveal scene, let’s go-

These may be a little out of order cuz I took them on different days, but I’ll do my best to put them in order

Y E E T-

I love this look- John’s face is a mixture of concern and surprise

‘You kissed my son and now he might be in danger, damnit woman’

I think this just perfectly illustrates just how much John cares for Jamie, you can see he’s trying not to panic here, or give off the impression he’s panicking, but the audience can see it, and it shows just how much John and Jamie’s relationship has developed since The Village That Rose From The Dead (S19, E1).

It’s one of those nuggets that, as the audience who have seen this development, we can pick up on.

So these two shots are effectively mirror images of each other. The top one is a medium-close up on Jamie from a narrative perspective while the bottom one is an over-the-shoulder shot placed upside-down, in the way Jamie would be seeing. Both shots are there to establish a narrative so the audience knows what’s happening.

Also, they’re pretty cool shots.

That’s one way to get someone’s attention

Okay, let me geek out over this shot for a moment

It starts out upside-down, as we’re seeing it from Jamie’s POV after Leo slaps him, then the camera rotates 180 degrees to give us a mid-shot of Leo.

I’d say the rotating motion is meant to signify things coming into perspective as Jamie realises Leo’s the killer (no duh).

Obviously Jamie isn’t moving, he’s still upside-down, so the shot is meant to be for the audience.

Then this quite fast zoom from a mid-shot into a close-up onto Jamie’s face when Leo reveals the crossbow. The speed of the zoom could represent Jamie’s sudden realisation of just how much danger he’s in.

This riddle was actually one of the first ones I ever did, and I laughed as soon as Leo started reciting it cuz I already knew the answer.

It also links back to the scene in the bar when Eddie was about to tell Jamie the riddle. It’s the irony- if Jamie had listened to Eddie then, he would know the answer and wouldn’t be held at arrowpoint for 5 minutes.

But then there was the risk of Leo firing early and killing Jamie anyway cuz Jamie knew what Leo did.

It’s that sense of irony- Mahesh was “made a victim of his obsession”, Grady was made “a victim of his lofty intelligence” and Jamie was about to become a victim of irony, of not listening to Eddie recite the riddle that was in the Circulus paper, the paper Leo took.

Once again, we see John’s concern for Jamie. In the top picture, we can hear John’s concern, his worry. He’s scared for Jamie.

In the second picture, we get a close-up of his face, he’s trying to get the info out of Leo as a distraction, to lure him away from Jamie, give Jamie a chance to try and escape.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN KIDS ARE PUSHED

Okay, not literally, but every kid has a breaking point. Sure, kids don’t usually go around murdering people because they’ve been pushed to lengths, but it’s an allegory for kids being pushed way past their breaking point.

What makes this scenario even sadder is Leo was pushed to this point by a couple of factors; his mother died, one of his teachers was his mental support and who ended up being his dad’s mental support as well, his dad stopped his relationship with the woman who made him happy, his headteacher was going to sack the person who was there for Leo and his dad, the editor of the local newspaper for a town that thrives on gossip was going to publish a biased article about his dad and his teacher, and he thinks that this new guy is trying to steal the woman that made his dad happy from his dad.

There comes a tipping point for children. Like I said, kids don’t usually start murdering people, it’s usually something like drugs or some other kind of self-harming actions, but you can understand why Leo went as far as he did- he’d reached his tipping point and lashed out violently because he thought it was the only way to get his voice heard.

It’s a sad story, but the general understanding of it is something that a lot of kids face- a tipping point that gets ignored by adults until it’s too late. Hopefully this episode showed adults that.

Coming off from the above idea, this is another thing that kids are taught. ‘Rules are rules’, ‘stick to the rules’, ‘do as you’re told’- it accumulates, it builds up until the aforementioned tipping point.

This is another thing adults seem to forget that affects kids- stick to the rules, make sure you please the adults. Who cares if the kids grow up traumatised? Who cares if the kids grow up with this toxic mindset? They’re sticking to the rules.

Okay, enough about the issues with society-

John asks Leo what the question was so he could have a chance to save Jamie, while Jamie does what most kids do when they’re scared- they look to their parental figure for help. 

It’s just more evidence of the familial bond they have.

I find this interesting- John probably knows the answer to the riddle, or at least he could work it out quickly, yet he pleads with Leo to stop.

Why?

He’s panicking. He’s scared. He thinks Jamie is going to die and he is helpless to stop it.

It isn’t a terribly hard riddle, but it requires concentration, and what’s one thing you can’t do when you’re scared? 

Concentrate.

Neither John nor Jamie can concentrate in this situation, they’re too scared.

However, Birgitte can concentrate. She doesn’t have that bond with Jamie, she’s only known him for maybe 3 or 4 days, and she took the paper the riddles was on.

She is able to step in and give Jamie the answer, not because she has that strong bond with him, but because she knows how strong John and Jamie’s bond is.

Don’t get me wrong, she probably does care about Jamie and doesn’t want him to die, but that newer, weaker bond gives her the ability to step back and concentrate while everyone else is panicking.

John echoes Birgitte, yet his “Yes?” is slightly more panicked. Birgitte’s is calm, rational, leveled while John looks like he wants to run over to Jamie and protect him physically.

To me, it’s the bond thing again. Birgitte is more leveled because she knows she has to be in order to save Jamie. She knows there’s no use in both her and John panicking, so she keeps calm and gives the answer. The "Yes?” is the prompt to Leo to let Jamie go.

Even with Jamie reciting the right answer, Leo pushes the button and we get this moment.

Birgitte is the only one who appears shocked, she is turned to Jamie and for the first time, she looks scared. Even with her help, it’s possible Jamie could die, they could be about to witness the death of someone her friend holds dear.

Ignoring Colton and Penny, mostly because I don’t think the shot actually shows their reaction, we’re going to skip right onto John.

Leo pushes the button and John runs to Jamie. He calls him “Jamie” instead of “Winter”, like he usually does.

He panics, he rushes forward as if he’s hoping he can either put himself between Jamie and the arrow, or, even better, push Jamie out of the way and avoid anyone getting hurt.

But it’s the running compiled with the use of “Jamie” that really hits home- John cares a lot about Jamie, and this one wide shot with Jamie in slightly blurred focus and John more in-focus, really shows it. He calls Jamie by his first name, something I don’t think we’ve seen before, and rushes to get to him.

Like @tiger-moran​ said, we’ve gone from John not knowing Jamie’s name in Last Man Out (S19, E3) to this, to John wanting to protect Jamie, to save him. To calling his name in a panic the same way parents will to their child if their child is in danger.

Jamie attempted kill count: 3

And the importance of bonds come back; Jamie made a bond with Ginny after she almost shot him at her farm, and she created a bond with Birgitte when Birgitte went to see her. Without that bond Ginny created with these two, Jamie would have been hit with the arrow, not doubt about it. Ginny’s line confirms that. 

Then, once John knows Jamie’s safe, he runs to Leo, to pin him against the tree until the PCs arrive.

It’s similar to what he does in Til Death Do Us Part (S20, E5), when he finds Hazel holding a pair of gardening shears to Sarah’s neck- it’s that instinctive reaction to stop the cause of his loved one’s pain. It’s that closeness again, he has similar reactions to both Jamie and Sarah almost being killed.

He checks Jamie is safe, that Jamie is alive, then he apprehends Leo to stop Leo from potentially trying to hurt or kill Jamie again.

Gonna leave this part here cuz it’s long enough anyway. I’ll do a short Part 5 for the final scene, then this’ll be over, you’ll be happy to know

[phoenotopia]

2020 May Update

I hope you're all staying safe and healthy during this time of Coronavirus!

We continue towards the finish line, slowly, but surely. Coronavirus did throw a few wrenches in our plans. Our talks with a publisher about a possible sponsored appearance at an upcoming event stalled.

But that was always just a possibility. We have a backup plan. If we didn't win a sponsor, we were just going to pay our own way to a convention. That's what most indies do! Anyway, that's canceled too. It doesn't seem like there'll be any conventions to showcase in the near future...

Nevertheless, we did move forward in other areas. We've got the press materials ready as well as the game's official launch site up. You can view it in its prelaunch state at this link. NOTE, It is in a "prelaunch" state, so some media links are being withheld until reveal time. But there are a bunch of new pictures and artwork you can look at.

You might notice the link reads "phoenotopia.wordpress.com". The plan is to direct "phoenotopia.com" to it in the near future. That means if you wanted to reach this tumblr specifically, you'll have to visit it at its tumblr link, "phoenotopia.tumblr.com" (which, I just noticed doesn't work... huh). Anyway, since this is a dev blog, I'll talk a little bit about the journey of creating the website.

SQUARESPACE vs WIX vs WORDPRESS

I actually tried 3 different services (in the above order), before I settled on wordpress. I did a bunch of researching, and most reviews seemed to point at WIX >= SQUARESPACE >>> WORDPRESS.

I went with Squarespace first, since it was recommended a bunch on some youtube videos I saw (guess marketing works). Even though it didn't win outright in the reviews, my impression of it was "less quantity, but more quality." I tried it and found it serviceable. It was kinda sluggish, with some not so intuitive areas. I had to ask for help a few times for some things that would seem simple ("how do I change the BG and font color and of the music player?", etc).

That was last year, when I *thought* I was near launch and would need a press site soon. One year later (present day), it was time to create a press site again, and since my website with Squarespace expired (I had only signed up for a trial period), it was a good opportunity to try Wix, especially since Pirate had lots of praise for Wix.

My impression of Wix was that it was... too distracting. After I chose a theme, in the editor view I felt bombarded by menus. Everywhere you move the mouse, things kept lighting and popping up. And it was slow. So I guess it was sorta like Squarespace, but maybe even a little worse?

(Easy ways to preview the website from phones and tablets was one of wordpress’s neat features)

What prompted me to try Wordpress was one of their slogans "35% of the web uses WordPress". If it's good enough for 35% of websites, it's good enough for me! I ended up liking it most of all. It's definitely less featured, which suited me, since I'm not trying to create something too fancy either. Unlike the other website builders which emphasize free-form, wordpress was more rigid. I couldn't drag and drop an element just anywhere - I found that comforting in a "I can't screw this up" sorta way. The most important thing was that it was fast. Loading the editor view to Wix took 11 seconds vs 4 seconds with Wordpress. And the speed advantage of wordpress extends across every action. Similarly, when Chrome launched 10+ years ago, it was also less featured vs Firefox, but it became my choice browser. I guess speed is something I value highly.

Anyway, my experience is from a drag/drop perspective with minimal coding. This is also NOT a paid advertisement. However, if wordpress would like to send some money my way, I would not be opposed... (call me!)

Achievements, Bugfixes, and Cleanup

Lots of small tasks and polish was done over the past 2 months. I finally fixed the time tracking bug - important because the Speed Run achievement depended on it. I also finally finished implementing all the technical stuff for the achievements. There was a bug where some enemies would stack up too many light sources, causing them to appear too bright and drain system resources. That's now also fixed. Lots of other small ones that don't bear mentioning.

A neat trivia about the game is that there's a final super hard achievement for those seeking to prove their mastery over the game. The player has to beat the game having never picked up a heart or energy upgrade. When playing under this constraint, some enemies can even kill the player in one hit! In the game's most current iteration, even I failed to achieve it, so I'm definitely going to have to go in and tweak things a little more.

Age Ratings

I went and got the game's age rating. I did a little research on this - it's quite fascinating. ESRB would be the age ratings board for the United States (where I'm based). But if you were in Europe, you'd get a PEGI rating. Then there's ACB for Australia and so forth. So if you wanted to launch a game globally, you'd have to deal with this process over and over, and each country rates things a little differently... that's a lot of work!

Enter IARC (International Age Rating Coalition), which aimed to simplify the process by being the one standard that you apply to, and from which you could then get the equivalent rating for all participating countries. IARC is an entirely automated process - probably necessary due to the boom of digital titles across all platforms, particularly mobile.

IARC is great for me, because they relaxed the standards for getting a rating. From my understanding, the process used to be more difficult. And you'd have to pay ESRB a hefty chunk to get a rating, but with IARC, it's totally free! So long as it's for digital and it's used only on licensed sites and store fronts. If I wanted to launch the game physically, I'd have to deal with ESRB on an individual basis again.

Without further ado, here's Phoenotopia's IARC ratings:

Fascinating... Phoenotopia is rated "Mature" in Australia... but for "Horror". Which seems suspect. The horror elements are rare (remember Dreadlands?). But when I was answering their questionnaire, they provided a video example of what they considered "horror", and it was pretty mild. About as mild as my game, so I checked that box. It is what it is...

We also got a "Teen" rating for ESRB for reasons of Fantasy Violence and "Mild Blood". This one is kinda iffy. In the game, if you hit a giant bug, it spits out a few drops of green blood. Does that really count as blood? Ocarina of time skirted by with an E rating 2 decades ago, and it let a dude spit out green blood. However, since IIARC is an automated process, I didn't see any place to dispute. But also, I wouldn't have disputed it anyway. A "T" rating is cooler than an "E" rating!

I'd like to mention this is not a paid advertisement for IARC. However, if IARC would like to send some money my way, I would not be opposed... (call me!)

Submission

I expect to polish the game for about 2 (maybe 3) more weeks. After which, I'll be submitting the game to the console "authority". From my understanding, I'll then have to wait a month while they "inspect" the title. After which, I'm then cleared to have an official launch date - which I'll probably set to be 1 month after getting approval.

So the plan is to have a very short marketing campaign. The reveal trailer will basically drop 1 month before release. And we're going to sprint to the finish line. Some marketing campaigns are 6 months to a couple years. Ours will be one month... Let's hope it works.

Wrench

That's what the plan looks like right now, but there is a possible upcoming wrench in this whole thing. I recently learned that my version of Unity is too old. Games running on old Unity versions are not automatically accepted - so I'll have to apply for an exemption. If the exemption gets rejected, we can't launch without upgrading, which will require *significant* work...

This came as a surprise to me. When I started dabbling in games development a decade ago, the most common advice I found online was "Make Games, not Game Engines." I interpreted this to mean lock in your technologies. There's always going to be a new and shinier bell or whistle, but if you keep chasing it, you're not going to work on the actual content of the game. That's probably what kept me to releasing the original game on Flash. That was a game I was making as a hobby while working a full-time job. By the time I quit my job to go full-time indie dev, Flash had long been a dead technology. But I remembered "do you want to build game engines or games?" And so I pressed forward.

So that mindset could potentially backfire here. If PC was the lead SKU, we wouldn't have these issues since PC is more relaxed as a platform. Consoles, as I'm now learning, have an ever forward shifting window of technologies. If we get rejected for the exemption, there's a couple ways we can play it. One, we go through the pain of upgrading which will take months... Two, we pivot and make PC the lead SKU again, but have to handle porting that plus its specific features, which will also take months...

So why is updating such a big issue? Unity has changed drastically over the years. When I started, it was a lot less 2D friendly. They didn't have an official 2D tilemap solution, so you had to build your own or buy a 3rd party library from their asset store. I used 2DTK for tilemaps - 2DTK is now entirely deprecated. Similarly, I had to search for and purchase a good asset to display crisp text - since you couldn't even do that in Unity back then (heh). That's the story for a lot of old Unity stuff. Think of it as a first mover's "disadvantage".

Hopefully it won't come to that, since I'm pretty spent as a developer. I've been ready for this to be over, and I know many of you feel the same. Hopefully soon! As usual, I'll update in 2 months at the latest (end of June). An update might come earlier if we have some good news to share sooner. Until then!

Fanart and Cosplay

This first picture comes from roccy_chair and shows Gail basked in light. I like how her pose and equipment together form an "X". That's a neat hidden symmetry. The way she floats also kinda reminds me of Crono's "Shining" spell. Perhaps Gail should have the ability to cast spells? Hmmm...

Cody G returns with a new art depicting the 2 Moonstone enthusiasts. I like Fran's starry-eyed expression here. That's true love on display. I also like how the Moonstones are depicted as flat and coin-shaped. Very unique! Also note Gail makes an appearance in the back :D

Thanks to M1shaaa for this cosplay of Gail! There's a lot to like here! The vibrant pink hair. The costume with 3 stitches across the vest. The pose with slingshot, accurate to Gail's depiction in the box art. Amazingly, this might also be the very *first* cosplay of Gail! Will and Pirate both alerted me about it excitedly since they were pretty stoked. We joked that we crossed the final milestone in terms of fandom.

[madfantasy]

Dear Blogging

How are you, dears? Been awhile. A bit happen I like to ramble about, a mix of good and the bad as life can be~

Starting with the good news first, I GOT ME A PC AT LAST!!

And how I got— OH, it was a peice of Slytherin scheming, I gotta tell you.

•SO. I was saving up for it for almost a year, right. And when we moved things just went downhill fast from every direction, I had to give everything I have for groceries and bills and all.

But my current pc was coughing up much worse slowly, it was basically running on prayers, I have nothing on it but my files and drawing program, backing up everything was painfully slow. I had to buy something reliable soon, or I won't be drawing.

I was going to get me a normal desk computer, I had it in my wish list for ages, the minute I gathered the full price- it was sold out. I was considably mmfff-ed. Each time I get enough for a good deal pc with the qualities I need- it gets sold out, cuz ya know, everybody's quarantine now and need pcs to be occupied, I suppose.

So, I had to ask for my money back or at least part of it, which I was promised that it would be given back to me, let me clarify. Denied.

I didn't care 'bout groceries, I was miffed— I rather eat dirt for a while than not draw. And so, I begged and pleaded, pleaded and begged. Each time I find a new deal it gets sold out, I'm being ignored further, and it was getting harder to find local deals, and buying aboard wasn't possible these days, even if its cheaper.

Eventually, I asked for only 1/4 of my money back, careful not to say how much it cost or how much I have (cuz I learnt my lesson, it would be taken from me again), so I was given.

I bought it thunder-quick, and it arrived to the next towns delivery office. And FER SOME REASON they sent us a message saying come get your parcel before a week- give or take, and didn't bother to deliver or call.

I was like WHY?!? I knew why anyway, cuz we live in an unmarked town or maybe a village, no traffic or services to pass us.

Since I'm not allowed to step foot outside, and was denied my wishes to learn how to drive (CONSTANTLY), and them bravely taking the responsibility of tending to my needs, I had to beg and plead again. I'm told to forget it, they'll call us and get it here.

For three days, nobody did. I texted, email, messaged all the company's support centers, no response from anyone.

I got the location of their office and phone number and begged them to check it. NOPE.

I was fuming at this point, I was planning ways to go on foot and get it myself, but it was silly- it was 15 minutes drive away, according to Google maps.

So I thought so hard in a way to forced them to go. And remembered something I didn't tell them because I was handling it myself. I deal with the gov documents and do all the paperwork. So I informed them that they need to update their phone number in the ministry office (around the delivering company)

cuz I can't do it online. And they're like damn, and hey I'll go look for your parcel, those ppl are useless in delivering it.

So they went and got it to me, but too bad, the ministry offices are closed. 🤖

With all this, I'm grateful tho for the delay it took (months) and thankful that my older pc kept stable enough to be able to do commissions still (thank you my dearest friends). Because I got a nice deal, and equally important to me— it was red and black, made heavenly matching my red & black palette obsession, hehe

I settled it on my desk and finished installing everything.

•AND THEN!

A scarce endless rain started to pour on us one day after. And the renovations to this house that costs us our souls and starving us really showed their worth. All the house was leaking. And it was dripping on my table, on my devices, and more worryingly near the cables in my room. It rained hailstones too on our fake metal ceiling— with ear piercing noise.

So it was a week of frustratingly listening to panicking and asking us to run around with buckets under each invisible leak, and do as little electric- required work as possible. (Because of horrifying previous happenings)

Contractors came and whatever, asked for the same amount of money to fix our ceiling as they originally did before.

I'm just thankful that it doesn't rain here much anyway.

•And while all that happening:

This person was sending me things.

I already made my point clear to them (and alot of you did more than that, bless your souls)

I don't like listening to people insulting others for their interests, beliefs or basically anything that's doing no one harm to anybody ( I have my fill from home, honestly).

And I suppose they are merely trolling or not good with listening. But then they started spamming me, and I had to break my Homan right policy and block them.

I don't care what others ship as long as they enjoy it, gives them this heart fluttering thrill of excitement and joy, give them meaning, help them grow, understand, have compassion to things they don't get, harmonious with them, have reasonable discussions, influencing goodness on one another. This means alot to me; to be able to do something that can bring happiness and warmth if it was cold and lonely in times. I mean I love how happy everyone was actually enjoying the snermoine I did, while the spammer was too focused on 'canceling' other ships but it. (Eee so glad u liked it💛🔥)

It's not realistic or fair to me that people gets shamed for liking fictional characters— whatever they are. And equally unfair to force some character concept on someone else that doesn't enjoy that concept, no matter how canon or not it was, they are real people to get hurt by such things, while fictional characters can't and never will get hurt anyway. I'm mortified that I have to say it and don't even know how to explain it more plainly! It is troubling that it's a real thing to happen, ppl annoying others for their favourite ships. Anyway, enough said.

And yeah... the fasting month is coming, and you all know what that means!!

Well you don't.. neither do I, yet, hehe but hopefully it would be easy on us.

Bless your days with goodness and fortune, my dears 💛

21.4.2020 pm

[my-arlington-academia]

Ellie happy birthday fanfic!! 🎉🎁📚📖

Well, by now you know the drill! Scholar is back to being a he in this one, I'm constantly switching it up! On a side note, since we're in June but still quarantined, the teachers are sending us a lot of work to finish up the year so I have less time than usual to write this! 😖 (I mean I guess I could just put it off and write it after but I can’t be late my whole life now can I?) Hopefully it won't be bad though! Please tell me what you think, I'm okay with anything at this point tbh. You guys can just leave me with a key smash and I'll be super happy 😂

-----------------------------------------------

Ellie looked at the exam schedule, and like every single year she got annoyed with just a glance.

“Being born in June sucks...”

She muttered quietly enough so the teacher wouldn’t hear but loud enough so her friends seated next to her could. Tyler gently tapped her shoulder, clearly he wanted to cheer her up but it is unfortunate that every year her birthday coincides with the exam period. He tried to bring her morale up nonetheless.

“Don’t sweat it, we’ll throw down a party once the exams are over! We’ll invite everyone, this way we’ll all have something to look forward to! That’s even bette-”

“Mr. Williams, if you’re any louder than this then I’m afraid I won’t be able to go through every single piece of advice I have to give you before the end of this period.”

As much as Tyler wanted to go on and ignore the teacher’s warning, like he usually does, his reasoning got the better of him and rightfully so. It would be extremely stupid to get an unpleasant note in his school file just before the exams. Though the “pieces of advice” weren’t any more useful than usual. It was all the same generic tips teachers give knowing fully well that many students won’t follow them and study just the day before the exam by pulling “almost-allnighters” with maybe a 2 hours long nap if they’re lucky.

After the lecture, when coming out of the classroom, Tegan and Tyler were thinking that Ellie would soon forget about that whole birthday thing and go back to being her usual happy-go-lucky self. But she kept on hanging her head low and sulking. It was so uncharacteristic of her that even the people who don’t know Ellie on a personal level started getting worried. Despite her short legs, Ellie has always been the type of person to hurry herself over to wherever her next destination is. So looking at the usually cheerful Ellie dragging her feet on the ground was a sad sight indeed. She sighed for at least the 10th time since the morning lecture.

“Maybe when my dads adopted me I should’ve just asked them to move my birthday to the beginning of July or something... what do you guys think?”

Tegan awkwardly extended his hand towards Ellie and rubbed her back.

“Well um... that wouldn’t really fix the problem now, would it? You’ll still know the date of your real birthday even if you change it. There really isn’t any meaning in doing that... I think. And I’m not even sure if that’s legally possible.”

As Tyler and Tegan were once again desperately trying to console Ellie, Scholar made his way towards them from afar.

“Ellie! You’ll celebrate your birthday after the exams, right? That’s awesome! It’ll be a breather for everyone and I’m already thinking of some presents I can giv- Uh. I guess I shouldn’t tell you what I’m thinking of or else it’ll ruin the surprise.”

In a matter of seconds, Ellie’s mood did a complete 180 and she was happily conversing with Scholar. TnT looked dumbfounded, all it took for Scholar to cheer Ellie up was to flash a smile and ramble about random stuff while they had to give up on some of their snacks for her and she was still being gloomy. Tyler carefully nudged Tegan and whispered.

“You see what I see?”

“You mean how Ellie turned back into a ray of sunshine the moment Scholar showed up? Yeah, nothing new here...”

After a few minutes that seemed to last way too long to Tyler and Tegan, Scholar hurried himself over to his room, saying that he “absolutely needs to study” or else he’ll be kicked out of the school if he doesn’t make it in the silver tier. Ellie turned back to face TnT only to discover their betrayed faces.

“Uhhh? Is something wrong you guys?”

Tegan stayed quiet, not really caring at this point to be honest, and Tyler pulled off the most offended attitude he could.

“Oh no nothing. We’re totally not salty that Scholar is sooooooo awesome that he can lift all of your worries away by just gracing you with his all mighty presence.”

Throughout this whole thing, Tyler kept on dramatically rolling his eyes. Ellie was internally laughing at how bitter he sounded but also she was a bit embarrassed at how obvious her feelings towards Scholar are.

“Oooo-kay Tyler! No need to throw so much shade haha. You know that I love you guys much more than anyone else.”

“Psh. Yeah right, I can garantee you that this is not what you’ll say in a couple of months when you’ll be jumping in Scholar’s arms on a daily basis and kiss him under the moonlight.”

Ellie is usually hard to tease, she’s the one doing most of the teasing after all. However, when it comes to Scholar even the smallest thought can make her go from a 0 to a hundred real quick. Ellie punched Tyler in the shoulder, a punch that was surprisingly really powerful for such a little fist.

“It’s not like that! I’m not sure about anything...yet.”

Seeing how unsure Ellie was, Tyler stopped the teasing and looked at Tegan. It was the first time any of them had a crush on someone. Despite all of the joking, they know that they have an unbreakable bond and they’ll stick with eachother no matter what happens. Only problem is... none of them have any experience with dating, or hell, even just flirting. Tegan looked hilariously confused.

“Okay so uh. Do we just like... help you have alone time with him, or what? It would be so much easier if this was a visual novel with multiple-choice answers, in that case I could’ve helped you no problem.”

Tegan shot a shy glance towards Tyler, he shrugged in return.

“Hey don’t look at me like that! All I know is a bunch of cringy pick-up lines that can only be used as jokes.”

Suddenly Ellie broke into a genuine laugh under the confused gazes of her friends. They were trying so hard to help that it was actually really adorable.

“The two of you are such dorks! You don’t need to take this so seriously, I’ll do whatever needs to be done on my own. And if I do need help with something, I promise I’ll hit you guys up!”

That’s right. There was no reason to be hasty. No matter what will happen, it all seems so far away. Especially when there’s the exams just before it. Ellie was stirred up for a couple of months now, and she honestly wasn’t really counting on doing anything in particular. If something is meant to happen, it’ll happen. That’s what she thought and she was sure of it more than anything else.

----------------------------------------

Et voilà! I’m not sure how well this turned out since I did this in one go but I just hope it’s not too sucky! Also this is the first time I directly wrote this on my laptop and wow... the emojis are so fcking ugly on PC tumblr 😂 I can’t believe they looked at them and were like “yeah, perfect for our hellsite”. Tumblr really needs a revamp or something. Also, just to be sure, the exam period in America is in June right? If not then I effed up with this whole thing lol. Uuhhhh I’m pretty sure there’s something else that I wanted to say but it’s 2am and I don’t remember... Welp! In any case thank you so much for reading! ♥

[monstersandmaw]

Patreon Tier Reshuffle in February and General 2020 Developments...

I gave my Patrons first look at this post, since some of the changes will affect their tiers (only to add content though!). Now I’m posting most of it to Tumblr for you to look at and perhaps have a think about...

It’s a long post, and I’m sorry for that...

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s supporting me on Patreon, whether you’re a long-time supporter or you just joined. I know it's a big deal to give your heard-earned cash to someone on the internet and am well aware of the responsibility I have and what an honour it is to be on the receiving end of your generosity and support. So, yes. Thank you more than I can probably ever express.

Secondly, a reminder that all tiers have access to our chilled out Discord server forever. We’ve got a channel for sharing photos of pets, for general chat, for monsters, for sharing artwork of all kinds, a library to share your own stories, an nsfw chat, recipes etc., so hopefully there’s something for everyone, but there’s no pressure to be active if you’d rather not be! There’s also an ongoing DnD game with some of the folks on there too, which is fun!

It might be worth joining the server anyway because I have plans for a new perk which will involve Discord (see below), and I also occasionally run ‘Discord Drabbles’ where I ask for prompts on Discord from folks, which you might have seen posted on Patreon from time to time.  

Now, finally, round to the topic of this post!

I’ve been thinking about how to make sure that every tier gets the most that I can give them for their money, so I’m going to do a little reshuffle. It will start in February, and I’ve made sure that I’m pretty much just adding stuff to each tier, so you won’t miss out in the reshuffle.  

Here are the new things I’m running only on Patreon from February 2020 in addition to everything else (see below):  

Sculpt This!

Patrons can submit artwork or detailed descriptions (a creature/monster, a character, an object) to a designated ‘Sculpt This!’ channel on Discord, and I will pick one to sculpt once a month. I will create a post on Patreon with the artwork and the artist’s name (and a link to their page/site if they have one, and photos of my final sculpture based on their design. That will be available to everyone from the $1 tier upwards.  

For those on the $5 tier upwards, a short video will be available, featuring footage of the sculpting process itself.  

If the person whose art I use is on the $20 tier or upwards, I will post them the sculpture if they’d like it. 

Trope Tuesdays!

A poll will go up prior to Tuesday, with a list of common tropes (notably from the world of fanfic – things like ‘coffee shop’, ‘bed-sharing’, ‘enemies to lovers’, ‘5 times +1’ etc. etc.) and the winning trope from that poll will be the theme for a short story to be posted on a Tuesday.  

I’m aiming for these short stories to be a variety of fluffy and steamy, available to everyone from the $1 tier up.  

Character Letters

$10 and up patrons can request a letter once a month from their favourite characters from any of my stories (providing I wasn’t using someone else's OC for a commission or the like). This can be sent as a PDF by email and/or posted publicly to Patreon only (not Tumblr), with the option to remove the name if you’d rather remain anonymous.  

$20 and up patrons can request a hand-written letter once a month from their favourite character, again with the option to have the text posted to Patreon or not, and with their name, or not.  

Commissions 

I'm still in two minds about opening these up on here because I got absolutely exhausted – mentally and physically – at the end of 2019 and I’m only just recharging again. I had said I would open them up to patrons only in January 2020, and I may yet do that. If I do, I will create 5 slots, and a maximum of 5k words per story initially, and see how that goes. I realise that’s a small number of slots, but it’s still a lot of work for me on top of the rest of the Patreon commitments. I hope you understand, but I know a number of you responded in a poll to say you’d be interested in commissions from me again.

$10 patrons receive 5% off the first 5000 words of writing commissions, and $20 receive 10% off the first 5000 words of commissions.  

Continuing rewards:  

Monthly story – the monthly exclusive story will still be available for $5 and up (some of these stories have been known to go up to 10k words and be in multiple parts – think Kieran the satyr’s story from October 2018!)

Early release – I will continue to offer all Tumblr stories (except paid commissions from non-patrons and giveaways/specials) on early release – minimum of 4 days, sometimes longer.  

Polls – help me decide what to write next

Character bios and artwork

Future things I hope to bring in later this year:

Gaming with Ghosti

I hope to do some streaming via Twitch of me playing things either on the PS4 (like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or we could do a special Dragon Age: Inquisition playthrough together), or from PC which could include a number of games, from Witcher III (I still haven’t played much) to Mass Effect, chilled out Minecraft sessions, and a huge number of other games which you could choose to inflict on me and watch me flail around in.

Hopefully Mr. Ghosti could join in too and laugh along with you and just generally have a chilled out time. This would probably happen at the weekend, but I’d have to look into the logistics of it if there’s enough interest.  

Discount for Patrons on my Etsy shop

It’s actually live right now, but I haven’t got anything listed yet as I’m unsure of the last few things I need to get in place, but once I’ve got things up on there, I’ll make an announcement and give patrons a special discount code to use in case there’s anything you’d like to buy, from jewellery to polymer clay charms/sculptures.  

More Q&A type things and video content

Some of you seemed to enjoy the video I did answering your questions, so I could always do more of this, if there are things you’d like to ask! It could be about anything, not just writing. If there’s interest, I’ll look into it.

More milestone giveaways and mystery ‘lucky dip’ giveaways

I love sharing things with you, so when I hit 200 patrons, I’ll have to think up something special, and in the meantime, maybe I’ll do some more giveaways for you.

If there’s something that you would like to see that you think I could put up on Patreon for you, then please get in touch! I’m always looking for ideas

All tier rewards will be as follows from February 2020:

Brand new items in bold, and slight changes in italics:

(putting in a ‘keep reading’ because it’s getting silly now...)

Shadows:  

access to the Patreon-only Discord

access to the ‘Trope Tuesdays’ poll and story

access to the ‘Sculpt This!’ posts

access to some character profiles, aesthetics, polls, and story ideas

small discount on my etsy store (when it opens)

and my undying gratitude!

Pixies and Goblins – all of the above, plus:

one Patreon-exclusive monster story per month

access to the ‘Sculpt This!’ process video

access to the extra, long-running story, released once a month (Werewolf story - coming soon!)

early access for all Tumblr monster stories (excluding paid commissions)

the ‘what’s next?’ poll to help me decide what monster or reader to write

Elves – all of the above, plus:

you can request a letter once a month from your favourite character of mine! This can be sent as a PDF by email and/or posted publicly to Patreon only, with the option to remove the name if you’d rather remain anonymous.

entry into the monthly 3k word story commission – if you are chosen (at random) from the Elves tier (and above) you can have a 3k word story of your choosing written for you

access to ‘Writer’s Corner’, featuring occasional blog posts about writing and workshop goings-on

small work-in-progress previews from both my monster stories and my original fantasy fiction ‘Weaver of Threads’

5% off the first 5000 words of writing commissions, and priority placement in the commissions queue

Orcs – all of the above, plus:

you can also request a letter once a month from your favourite character, but yours can also be hand-written and posted to you if you’d like! You also have the option of it being posted to Patreon or not. 

One short story (maximum 1500 words) with a monster and reader of your choice per month (by request only), included within your subscription

A PDF version of any monster story I’ve written and published on Patreon or Tumblr (by request, and sent by email)

10% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

if your design was selected in the ‘Sculpt This!’ feature, I can post the finished sculpture to you, if you’d like to have it.

Dragons – all of the above, plus:

One 5000 word story of your choosing will be written for you per month (no fanfiction) as a thank you for your patronage (by request only)

Entry into the monthly top tiers free story draw but your story is 4k words instead of 3k

20% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

A character with a name of your choosing (upon approval!) will be added to a monster story

Priority on jewellery and metalwork commissions and a larger discount on my Etsy store (when that opens)

Kaiju – all of the above, plus:

if you win the random free commission, yours is 5k words instead of 3k!

One 7000 word story of your choosing will be written for you per month (no fanfiction) as a thank you for your patronage (by request only)

One hand written letter of thanks (I have nice handwriting, don’t worry!) sent to you by post, including a little short story

25% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

30% discount on jewellery and metalwork commissions

Dedication by name in any published work (let me know if you wish to remain anonymous)

Hope you’re excited, and don’t forget that you can always get in touch with me on any of my platforms – Patreon, Tumblr, Discord. If you want to share something but also want to remain anonymous, just send an anon to Tumblr and ask me not to post it. 

__

| Masterlist | Patreon | Ko-fi | Writing Commissions |

[supernaturallyobsessedchic]

Littlest Winchester - Part 2

[this gif makes me laugh]

Part 2 – Typhoid Mary

Summary: Sapphire is sick while her dad and uncle are out on a hunt. She thinks she’s well enough to help find Jack.

Warnings: sick OC reader, puking, tooth rotting fluff.

a/n: Reader/Sapphire: 11 years old; Set during Season: 13

a/n #2: Figured I’d write a fluffy fic for Jen @supernatural-jackles​ one of my favorite fan fic authors on this platform, and one of a few who have inspired me to write, hopefully this helps put a smile on your face and feel all warm and fuzzy. :3

~

When she woke up, it was later than usual. But Dean and Sam left a note for her for when she did wake up.

Hey Blue,

Uncle Sammy and I are helping Cas on a case that might involve Jack. If you could look up some stuff on the case that would be much appreciated. Sam left you his laptop in the library.

Call me if you find anything. Love you Princess.

- Dad

She could feel pressure in her head, her nose stuffy and runny, her eyes even itched a bit. They felt watery. And she had a pretty nasty cough. But she felt fine enough to sit and chill out at the computer all day to help her dad on the case.

She made herself a hot chocolate, warming up some milk, tossing in some marshmallows. She went into the library ready to go.

-

The case was a bust, no sign of Jack. Cas left to see if Heaven could help. Sam and Dean rented out a motel for the night, ready to leave for the bunker in the morning.

Her coughing fits got worse as the day progressed. Her headache got to the point it has made her cry. A constant fill in pressure, her eyes felt like they were gonna explode and if she couldn’t smell a thing. Her stomach decided to add to the torment and not agree with her, period.

Her stomach did a flip after said coughing fit. She leapt from her seat running for the nearest bathroom. Only to make it to the trashcan in the kitchen. Puking whatever contents in her stomach there was. Brushing it aside, she not only brought the trashcan with her, she headed back to the library, sat at Sam’s laptop and got back at it.

Sam had gone to bed early, Dean was looking at cases involving Jack. And then his phone rang. It was Sapphire.

“Hey Blue, found anything?” Dean asked.

“No, nothing.” She said. Her voice sounding rough, and clearly sick.

“You sound awful, you okay?” Dean asked.

“It’s just a cold, I’m fine, I’ll live.” She said.

“Don’t lie to me baby, you know what I said about that?” Dean said knowingly.

She sighed.

“My head feels like it’s gonna split in two, my nose is stuffed up, my throat hurts, and I threw up…twice.” She says.

“Alright.” Dean goes. powering down his laptop. Getting up to wake up Sam. “I’m waking up Sam and we’re leaving, now.” Dean says. “I’ll be home soon.” He adds.

As he nudges Sam’s shoulder harshly, waking him. “What Dean?” He goes, annoyed.

He points to his phone.

“No, Daddy, I’m fine. I made it this long being sick.” She says.

“We’ll hand whatever case to another capable hunter, right now, my daughter is sick. And I’m heading home to help her.” He says. “Now, power down Sam’s laptop, and get to bed.” He tells her.

“Okay daddy.” She says. Sounding tired and exhausted.

“You’ll be better in no time.” He says. Before exchanging I love you’s and hanging up.

“How bad?” Sam asked as he got dressed.

“I won’t know until I take her temp, she says she’s got a headache, stuffy nose and she puked a couple times.” Dean says.

“Sounds like the flu.” Sam goes.

“Maybe.” Dean agrees. “But, let’s get going.” Dean urges. Having already packed his stuff and is loading the impala.

She sat in the library, too tired to even move. She just closed out of the databases that were being used to find Jack, and opened up Google Chrome and began watching Markiplier on YouTube.

-

Her dad must have been speeding or was not that far from Lebanon, Dean came walking down the halls after dropping his bags off to his room and not seeing Sapphire in her room, he headed to the library. He saw her sitting at the table, on Sam’s laptop, watching a dude playing a video game. His antics making his daughter giggle.

“Hey baby girl.” He says upon entering.

“Hi daddy.” She said. She sounded weak and exhausted.

“I’ll have Sam get this laptop hooked up in your room, but let’s get you to bed.” He says.

He works her into his arms, and he carry’s her effortlessly to her room. She had dozed right off in his arms.

He lays her down gently, so as to not upset her stomach. He moves her heavy blankets to her feet, leaving her in the sheet blanket. He heads to the bathroom grabbing the thermometer. Coaxing her awake enough to get it in her mouth.

After a few minutes Dean pulled it out.

104.

Most fever reducers have doses made for kids 12 and over. Sapphire just turned 11. She’s still a bit young to be taking that kind of medicine. Sam decided to make a run to a nearby Pharmacy, grabbing a kid friendly fever reducer for kids 12 and under.

Dean gave her, her first dose. He grabs one of her chairs in her room, an oversized bean bag chair, and sat next to her bedside, keeping watch over her.

Sapphire slept soundly despite her symptoms. She woke up to her father, sleeping in the bean bag chair, holding her hand.

She still felt sick, but at least she didn’t feel like throwing up.

She wiped her eyes with her free hand. Waking her father.

“Hey Princess, how you feeling?” He asks. Gently brushing her hair from her eyes with his free hand.

“Egh.” She groans.

“Still crappy, huh?” he asks. she nods.

“Well then, we’re taking off today to take care of you.” He says, getting up.

“I’ll have Sam go get us some soup, crackers, meds, the works.” He says. “You just rest up in bed. ‘Kay?” he goes.

“Okay.” She says. How can she argue when she feels this sick?

And Dean goes to the kitchen to tell Sam exactly what he told her, and with that Sam is out buying canned soup, meds, and Dean is disinfecting the bunker.

“Dean, I have news.” Cas says, entering the kitchen.

“It’ll have to wait Cas.” Dean says.

“What are you doing?” Cas says, looking confused.

None of the Winchester brothers ever got sick, and Sapphire hardly ever got sick. But ever since she started up with school after summer break, it just popped up out of nowhere.

“Just disinfecting the bunker so no one catches whatever she’s got, miss Typhoid Mary in there.” Dean jokes, half kiddingly. Pointing to Sapphire’s room.

“It’s just the cold Dean, it’s not all that contagious.” Cas says knowingly. Causing Dean to look unamused at the angel.

“I’m not taking chances Cas, just go on your lead on Jack, I’ll have Sam help you when he can, ‘kay.” Dean says. “But I’m staying here with my girl, making sure she gets better.” Dean says.

Cas nods. “Very well Dean, I’ll call if anything changes.” He says.

“Sounds good Cas.” Dean says.

After cooking the soup, Dean enters her room, seeing her watching YouTube again.

“Why not just ask uncle Sammy to get you a console, and some games and play these yourself?” Dean asked, as he sat her dinner tray near her on her bed.

“These are PC games Dad, I’d need a gaming computer.” She says.

“We’ll get that too.” Dean says.

“Dad, it’s fine. I like watching it. it’s funny seeing him fail.” She says giggling at Mark failing at FNAF Help Wanted VR. “’Sides, I’d be cheating.” She says pointing at the video.

“Yeah, I guess.” Dean says. Just not getting it, how she finds that entertaining.

“Mind if I hang out with and watch?” he asks.

Might as well see what all the fuss is about though. He thought.

“Sure. If you don’t think Typhoid Mary here’s gonna get you sick.” She says, eyeing him. Making him chuckle.

“I was just joking around with Cas.” Dean says, setting in behind her. kissing the top of her head. “I love you baby girl.” He says.

“I love you too daddy.” She says as she dug in her bowl of chicken noodle soup.

~

Copying and reposting someone else’s content is plagiarism and illegal. This work is property of supernaturallyobsessedchic. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. An electronic reference link to the original posted work may be provided for purposes of promotion or assistance of publication by the readers discretion, if proper credits are given to the author in the re-post. 01/11/20

-

Feedback is always appreciated!

And I hope this helped Jen! You’re awesome, and I just hope this helped you feel fluffy warm. <3

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #437

Top Ten Predictions for the Xbox Games Showcase

So I wasn’t going to do this. I had my “Games Month” in June; that was supposed to be me getting it out of my system whilst the various publishers and platform holders held their Not-E3 video livestreams. That was supposed to take the place of my usual semi-serious lists of E3 predictions; a variety of more generalised run-downs of Stuff To Do With Videogames rather than me saying “A New Perfect Dark” ten times.

But then Microsoft’s “Showcase” event turned out to be the back-end of July, the videos and livestreams kept on pouring in, and I found myself ever devouring more salacious rumours of what games were upcoming, especially for the Xbox Series X. I have even found myself reading – shudder – Reddit.

I know.

Anyway, from being a simple thought experiment of “I wonder what games will be out when the Series X launches?” through to me imagining a blow-by-blow runthrough of the July 23rd event, I guess you could say that I am excited despite my better judgement. I think my problem with videogaming as a hobby is that I retain my fanboy enthusiasm from when I was a ten-year-old eagerly awaiting the next issue of The One Amiga, frantically swapping all eleven disks of Monkey Island 2, but I’m a grown-ass man with a mortgage and two kids and I just don’t have the time. I love reading websites like Eurogamer, and going on forums and checking out Twitter threads and all that, devouring news and titbits about all manner of gaming ephemera, and I often think when do these people have the time?!

Now look, I know hobbies, if you commit to them, can be expensive in terms of money and time. I have friends who collect Transformers toys, and let me tell you, that shit ain’t cheap. But daisy-chaining triple-A RPGs together feels like a lifetime commitment. I’m still playing Mass Effect Andromeda and Titanfall 2. I’ve just started Breath of the Wild and I’m waiting to kick off The Witcher III once I complete something else. I operate about two to three years behind the curve, and with work and kids and other commitments I struggle to find space for the oodles of games I do have, especially because most of the time I just end up on Civilization VI again. And yet…

The lure of the new still excites me. I really want to play all those Sony games on a Sony console that I don’t even own. I’m fascinated by the divergent next-gen philosophies of the big three platform holders. I can’t wait to see what the games I already own will look like embiggened on a 4K TV thanks to a suitable next-gen console. And so I keep consuming this stuff, keep wanting to try the latest thing, keep wanting to be part of the narrative. I’m still excited.

Therefore I’ve decided, against my better judgement, to offer up a prediction list like I usually do at E3 time. This one is just focussed on the upcoming Xbox Showcase on July 23rd. I doubt I’ll do one for the two remaining big showcases in August – I believe both Sony and Microsoft are doing one apiece, where we might finally hear prices of these damn things – because I think by the end of the month all the big game news might finally be out there. Aside from guessing how far off £500 both machines land, I think we’ve probably heard all the major announcements. Maybe I’m wrong! I’m wrong quite a lot! But that’s part of the fun.

So here we go: ten things that probably aren’t going to be announced next Thursday!

Halo Infinite opens the show – and is playable: we know that Halo Infinite will debut some campaign gameplay. As more-or-less a known quantity (even if we don’t know exactly what it’ll look like or how it’ll play), kicking things off with Xbox’s biggest star makes sense and won’t deflate any surprises. What I think might happen, though, is the announcement of some kind of multiplayer demo or closed beta, maybe only for Game Pass subscribers or something. They’ve done it before with Halo, so it’d be nice to get a chance to play one of the year’s biggest games early.  

Hellblade 2 in-engine trailer: Senua’s Saga looks amazing so far, with a phenomenal launch trailer that displayed vast landscapes, intense detail, and some truly awesome facial animation. There’s a lot of speculation that, whilst the trailer was apparently in-engine and running in realtime, it was a fancy cut-scene with “hero assets”. I might have missed a memo somewhere, but I don’t think Hellblade 2 has been confirmed as a “launch window” title; as such, I think it will end up a Series X exclusive (as in, not appearing on Xbox One) and be out Christmas 2021. As such we won’t see a considerable gameplay chunk as with Halo, but we will see some proper in-engine footage – not a cutscene – running on Series X hardware.

Fable IV is out next year: is it an open secret at this point that Playground Games is making a Fable game? I guess maybe they’re not. Maybe there’s not even a new Fable at all. But I think there is, and I think Playground are making it, and I think we’ll see it next week. I guess it probably won’t be coming too soon; maybe Christmas 2021? So I think there’ll be a launch trailer of some kind – hopefully a Hellblade-style in-engine one rather than a rendered movie – but it’ll be a pretty big to-do to close out the show (unless there’s some other surprise “…and one more thing”).

Minecraft ray-tracing: we’ve seen it before, and I’m not sure how much time it’ll take up in the run of things, but I think Microsoft will confirm that there will be a ray-tracing graphics update for Minecraft on Series X. It’ll be part of some other line-wide update, of course – maybe the fabled “Super Duper Graphics” update that was cancelled once before – but Series X owners (or PC owners with the right hardware) will get lots of lovely rays to trace.

Gears Tactics on Xbox this Christmas: the Coalition said their piece about Gears 5 on Series X this week, so I don’t expect them to have a huge presence on Thursday (Gears 6 presumably being too far off), but I think we’ll get a trailer for the excellent Gears Tactics running on Xbox, and confirmation of a Christmas release for one of my favourite PC games of 2020.

Cyberpunk 2077 on Series X: all the footage we’ve seen of Cyberpunk thus far has been – I do believe – running on high-end PCs. CD Projekt Red should have a presence on Thursday, and I think they’ll debut footage – actual proper gameplay – of Cyberpunk running on a Series X. I think we’ll also see further evidence of a cosy relationship with Microsoft, as they announce something – maybe exclusive DLC – as well as just maybe some Cyberpunk-themed Series X hardware. I also think they’ll announce a Series X update for The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.

Big Double Fine blowout: Microsoft’s purchase of Double Fine really excited me, because I’ve been a big Tim Schafer fan for decades. Aside from Psychonauts 2, we don’t know a great deal about what they’re up to. So I think we’ll see a lot of Psychonauts, as well as confirmation of a Christmas release. We’ll also get confirmation of classic LucasArts remasters – Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango – as well as something else. I’m not sure what. A remaster of the first Psychonauts? Brütal Legend 2? Scurvy Scallywags Series X? what I don’t think it’ll be, however, is any kind of Banjo Kazooie game, because I don’t really think Microsoft bought them to work on existing IP. I think we’ll see something new.

Third-party shenanigans: aside from Cyberpunk, I think we’ll get at least one other extended third-party trailer. Maybe Destiny 2, given the first game’s apparent preference for PlayStation? Maybe one of those military shooters everybody likes but me? Splinter Cell, which is becoming the perennial white elephant during Ubisoft presentations (and obviously has prior as an OG Xbox exclusive)? Or maybe we’ll see something like the announcement of Red Dead Redemption 2 as a Smart Delivery title. That would be pretty cool.

Japanese presence: I’m not sure what exactly, but I think Microsoft will make moves to entice the Japanese market. Perhaps it’ll be like the early days of the Xbox 360, when they published the likes of Blue Dragon. Maybe we’ll see a Western release of some venerated Japanese franchise. Or maybe some other sequel or reboot. Maybe it’ll even be the rumoured announcement of some kind of exclusive partnership with Sega? Who knows? Regardless I think we’ll see evidence of Microsoft making more of an effort in Japan; I think this will be part of a strategy to encourage Japanese gamers to subscribe to Game Pass/xCloud rather than buy more consoles.

One last thing: there’ll be a surprise. Everyone’s predicting everything, but I still think there’ll be a surprise. After the dust settles, good old Phil Spencer (t-shirt prediction: Viva Pinata) will leave us with a little something… a tease, a subtle tease, maybe even just a logo or character reveal. It could be a returning franchise, it could be The Initiative’s debut game, but I’d wager it’s something unexpected, something we’ve never heard anything about. It’s something that’s a long way off, but it’ll have a style or a hook or a brand that instantly makes everyone excited, and will bring the curtain down. Microsoft has largely done a good job establishing itself as a solid platform the last three or four years, but it’s sorely been lacking in mic-drop moments as hardware news is teased and studio acquisitions have taken time to bed in. So whether it’s Joanna Dark, a Mech, Banjo, or something I can’t fathom, we’ll leave on a high.

There we go: ten relatively reasonable, moderately level-headed predictions. I don’t think there’s anything too crazy there. I’ve not gone all-in on a huge Perfect Dark blowout, or Viva Pinata returning, or Microsoft buying Sega or Warner Bros or whatever else could be dreamed up. I’m sure there’s other stuff too; probably some gameplay from previously-announced titles like The Medium or (hopefully) Scorn, that really show off Series X capabilities; no doubt a montage or two, probably of some ID@Xbox games; Forza Motorsport 8, I guess, and I’d wager some info on Flight Simulator on Xbox. I do hope they make the whole presentation look nice though; Sony’s one, where they finally revealed the PS5 hardware, was excellent, with just enough talking-head developer stuff and those lovely idents that served to whet the appetite and tease the eventual look of the machine. We know there’ll be no new hardware or discussion about evolving services, so really all we’ve got to look forward to are games, games, games, which makes a nice change from the reveal of the Xbox One all those moons ago.

Okay, so my absolute crazy just-for-me wish? Well, things are getting thin on the ground now, as the big things I always want from Microsoft – Fable, Crackdown, Perfect Dark – have either happened or are strongly rumoured. Viva Pinata is next on that list, but beyond that? How does Black and White Infinite sound? That’s right, baby, next on my list – Lionhead rebooted!

[peggysousfan]

The Affair (Warning!! Smut assured)

Hey guys! So this is a fic requested by @peggysousoversteggy​. It does contain violence, slander, and smut. It is extremely ANTI-Steve Rogers and ANTI-Steggy. So if you support either one, do NOT read this. However, it is Pro- Peggysous!It is super long so I will separate it into sections. This is section 2. So enjoy!! :)

2 weeks later:

"Peggy." Steve says. He's just returned from Washington and is very unhappy. "What the hell happened while I was gone?"

"What are you chattering on about?" She says, annoyed. The pile of files on her desk need to be signed by the chief, so she heads that way.

"Grant. You know, our son? I just picked him up from school and dropped him off at home. He says you haven't been feeding him. What the hell? You're his mother it's your job to-"

"I'm going to stop you right there." She turns around to Steve and glares at him. "First off, seeing as he is 'OUR' son, I shouldn't be the only one responsible for him. Secondly, I do feed him. I'm the only one who actually tries to give a damn and give him what he needs. Not you. You are never around, and the fact that he adores you so much makes me gob smacked because you are never there for him. I am. You've never once been there to sooth his cries, change a bloody nappy, help him walk or anything. I did!

"That child of YOURS chooses to not eat what I give him. Like you, he thinks I need to be a chef and give him everything he desires; but I don't. Because MY JOB as a mother is to raise him right, teach him manners and discipline, so he is ready to join the world as a PROPER gentleman. Unlike his father! So, don't came here and confront me with the problem of YOUR SON. If something is wrong, deal with it yourself!"

"Where do you think you're going. I'm not done talking with you." He grabs at her arm pulls her closer to him, and she punches him in the face; he falls back and uses the desk for support.

"Did I or did I not say to never touch me again? Hopefully that's a good enough reminder." She storms off and into the Chief's office. Daniel watches from afar like the rest of the office; and they all laugh.

"Rogers just got his ass handed to him by his own wife!" Thompson says, and they all laugh harder; but not Daniel. He just smiles proudly. Proud that Peggy put Rogers in his place in front of everyone. Maybe now he'll get the message. Steve grumbles and goes to his office, slamming the door behind him.

"SHIT!" He screams. Agent Caldwell opens the door and finds Rogers on his ass. His office chair snapped under his weight. He tells the others and the have another round of laughs. Daniel couldn't help but think today was a great day, and tonight was gonna be even better...Hours go by and when its lunch time, Peggy takes Daniels order and slips him a note 'File room after lunch orders -PC 🖤' It takes all his strength to not smile too much; now meeting in the file room is more than a comforting hug...After Peggy gives everyone there lunches, she meets Daniel in the file room.

"Hi." She says

"Hey..." He pulls her close and their lips meet immediately, their tongues duel in an explosive battle. She moans and bites his lip, which forces his hips to thrust. Peggy chuckles.  "Not yet, darling." He groans and leans her against the table; and she gasps. Both his arms on either side of her hips.

"Why not? Hmm?" He attacks her neck and forces a moan from her throat. He grinds against her and she starts to lose control.

"Daniel..." She rests her hands on his chest. "We can't, not now. Steve- " "Isn't even here." He starts to unbutton her blouse.

"He's upstairs."

"I don't give a damn." He snogs her silly and she groans; wrapping her legs around him. He slips a hand in her brassier and she moans once more.

"Daniel..." Peggy leans back, slightly, on the table and enjoys his hand on her skin. His lips trail down her throat and lead to her chest. "We-we're going to get caught." She chuckles breathlessly. He thrusts again with a small growl, and she gasps. "Dear lord, Daniel!"

"Shh, Peg." He laughs. "Keep that up and we will get caught." His hands slide down her leg and up her dress.

"I can't help it, you-ugh" she playfully slaps his chest as he starts to touch her core, and they kiss again. She drops her legs from his waist and places a hand on his arm. "Daniel. Seriously, I don't want anyone to come down here and see." Her eyes meet his and he can't help but melt in in them. He sighs and takes his hand away. "Don't look so disappointed" She laughs. "Your coming home with me, remember?" "Mm, I can't tonight." He hesitates. "Daniel! What-"

"Chief put me on the night shift again, and I can't get out of it. We'll just have to... meet up tomorrow." He kisses her head and she slump down. "That's why I was hoping..."

"To do it now." Peggy wraps her arms around his neck and kisses his nose; and he chuckles. "I can wait, I'm not in a hurry. I like to savor this, not rush it."

"Okay." They kiss once more and leave the room separately.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, and Peggy goes home; not without a sly wink at her lover. When Steve leaves the office, he hits the town for the night, and of course leaves Peggy at home with their son. Every time he does this, he doesn't return till early morning. What a headache that is for her. When she enters the house, she sees Grant in the living room, with an enormous mess on the floor.

"What in the bloody blue blazes happened in here?!"

"I was hungry, and I tried to make something to eat. Its not like you were going to do it."

"I wasn't- Grant I make you breakfast and supper every day, since you were born. What is it with you and being so ungrateful! The food we have is perfectly edible and not at all disgusting. You're being stingy because it isn't a bloody steak."

"No, I'm not. And Mrs. Smith doesn't make steak, she makes beef stew. I just don't like the food you make. Its gross. AND you don't make breakfast 'everyday' like a mom's suppose too- "

"I do everything a mother is supposed to. So, excuse me if YOU young man are an inconsiderate little arse!"

"I'm not an ass, you're just a bad mom! You don't even feed me real food or pick me up from school." Peggy has been trying her hardest, but now she can't take it.

"School? Hmm. Very interesting, Grant. Yes, lets talk about that" He shakes his head and looks at Peggy.

"What?"

"School. And why the hell you keep being sent home or I get notes saying how horrible you are! You treat the girls as if they were good for nothing dirt, your grades are horrid, you do nothing but bully the other children. And for what? Because your father is Captain America?" She exclaims. Her blood begins to boil, and her face is turning red. No matter what she does, her son keeps going down a destructive path; and she can't save him.

"So, what. I can handle myself. I'm better than they are, I don't need school or girls. They're supposed to help take care of us, not the other way around 'Mom'. Who's to say I'm not a super soldier too!" Peggy looks away and closes her eyes.  "You're not. If you were things would be very different. Trust me. Now take you little attitude and go to your room. I don't want to see you for the rest of the night!"

"Wha- " "Now!!" She points to the stairs.

"Whatever!" His dirty blond hair bounces on his head as he runs upstairs.

"If you break anything, I swear on my life your new best friend will be the end of a BLOODY TWIG ON YOUR ARSE!" He slams his door after hearing her yell.

The Next day:

"Mom, make me some toast."

"No."

"But I'm hungry." "And I said, No. Besides aren't you that one who said my food is 'gross'?" Grant rolls his eyes as he sits at the table. "If you're hungry make it yourself. You're eleven years old and its time you learned to fend for yourself. I doubt you'll marry anytime soon and get a glorified trophy wife to cook for you. Therefore, if you want food, make it yourself." Grant glares at Peggy behind her back and grabs his bag.

"I'm going to school."

"You're not going to eat?" He says nothing and slams the front door. "I swear I'm going to kill him one day..." she mumbles. She needs a break and a distraction from the annoyance she feels with her son and husband. Peggy walks towards the telephone and calls Daniel; they both have the day off today...

"Hello?"

"Daniel..." He laughs on the other line.

"Peggy..." He teases. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh yes, of course. I was just calling to let you know," She smiles and twirls the cord of the phone. "that Grant left for school already, and I'm home alone..."

"What about your husband? Won't he be in soon." Peggy laughs.

"Oh please, Steve won't be here. He's either with a bimbo whore or at the SSR right now." Daniel chuckles and hangs up the phone. "Daniel? Dan- bloody hell. I'm not falling for that again." Daniel once hung up before and she got worried; so, she went to his apartment, and he had a surprise waiting for her in his room...She yelled at him, obviously, and taught him a lesson on not doing it again. An hour later there's a knock on the door, and Peggy answers it. "Daniel!" She throws her arms around his neck and crashes her lips into his.

"Hey..." She kisses him again and again and drags him inside. "Slow down Peg." He laughs. Daniel hasn't made it four steps inside and already she refuses to stop placing fleeting kisses all over him.

"No."

"No? I see how it is..." He grabs her by the waits, twist her towards the wall, and traps her against it. "You really want to play this game?" His voice begins to deepen. She bites her lips and rests her hands on his shirt.

"You're an intelligent man.... Why don't you figure that out yourself?" He thrusts against her, involuntarily and she laughs. "No interruption today?" "Not a one." Peggy looks into his eyes and starts to lose her breath; and the pounding in her chest refuses to leave. Daniel leans in all the way, no space between their bodies; and she has no where to turn. Her belly begins to twist in desire as he drags his lips from her neck to her lips. Rather than a kiss, he nips.

"Daniel..." He keeps her pressed against the wall and dives into her lips. She moans as his tongue duels with hers.

"I think we should take this somewhere else..." She gasps and laughs.

"Lead the way." He takes her hand and they walk towards the bedroom. He's been there several times before in those 2 weeks Steve was gone...He shuts the door behind him and unbuttons his shirt. "No! I wanted to do that!" She laughs taking his hands in hers. He shakes his head.

"Not this time."

"Is that so...?" He hums in confirmation and nudges her towards the bed. She stands in front of it, defiantly. He nudges her back, but she doesn't budge.

"Okay, Peg. I see how it is." He grabs her waist and snogs her breathless. When she's let her guard down, he lifts her up and puts her one the bed.

"Ah!" She squeaks. "DANIEL!!" She leans on her elbow and looks at him, shocked. He shifted all his weight on his left leg when he lifter her, so he didn't put pressure on the prosthetic, and so he climbs over her to relieve his legs.  "Somethin' wrong, Peggy?" She laughs with all her breath as he undoes her blouse.

"No. Everything is perfect." She lays down fully and runs her hands in his hair. He takes off his shirt and hers, and their skin feels hot to the touch. Peggy moans as her body tingles with desire. She reaches for his trousers, and he stops her. He grabs her hands and places them over her head. "Da-Daniel..." He then licks, kisses, and nips at her exposed skin; releasing every gasp, moan, groan, and giggle he can discover. "Please!" she squirms underneath him, her patience running dry. He chuckles at her plea and release her hands; immediately she scratches at his back, and he arches as grinds instinctively.

Peggy grabs his hair and snogs him until neither can breathe. His hands slide down her belly, leaving electric shocks in their trail, and he undoes her trousers. In one swoop, they're tossed to the floor. Peggy laughs and kisses him again, clawing him up and down. He unclips her brassier and tosses it aside as he indulges the globes on her chest. Peggy undoes his own trousers and sits up to pull them down. Daniel stops his kisses and helps her remove them; his trouser and underwear are tossed all at once. He lays her back down and reaches in her nickers and swallows her moans in their kiss. He tears them off and thrust inside, both moan in lust. The bed begins to shake as the lovers' rock and dance in love.

"Ugh Daniel!" She shouts. He groans and thrust again and again as sweat beads at his brow.

"Peg-I -God Peggy..." He begins to lose his rhythm so she soothes him with a kiss, and he finishes. He loses all sense of control and begins to collapse, but she catches him in time.

"Are you alright, Darling?" She chuckles.

"Yeah, just..." He tries to catch his breath. "I just need a minute." She laughs as he lays his head on her chest and listens to her heartbeat. Both of their hearts beat as one, and time stills as they lay together, spent and in love...